Sixkiller- SXK flips Time
by Phoenix-sol
Summary: PART 2; F.F are finished. By who?The person that they rescued & later feared; SXK. Everyone in the F.F knew that whoever comes in her way is either dead or cruelly used. Will the Animorphs be dragged in too? Plus,SXK is rounding hostages.Andalites that is
1. Introduction

SIXKILLER 

_Introduction for_

Part one of the story; **Sixkiller- Tale of the Silver Dime**

Let me clear things up. There's a lot of confusion (even though you lot seem to be enjoying it) but I think I should just recap on what happened in the first part. So here it is, character related; (this is all up to and **not** including chapter sixteen) 

This is also for those who have not read part one and only want to read part two. 

_The story takes place no earlier than 40 and no later than 48. _

**Original members of the Freedom Fighters (F.F)**; Victor, Mark, Dominic, Mickey, Roger, Abigail and Jimmy.

**Added members to F.F**; Sixkiller, real name is Sedra. Tom (temporary member)

**Members of F.F (Freedom Fighters) **

**Victor Lance**; Leader of the F.F. His best friend is Mark. His girlfriend is Abigail. After a confrontation with Sixkiller Victor burned out and crash-landed, you could say that his attitude towards the war is a bit like Jake in book 50 (The Absolute –the one where Cassie morphs owl) deep inside he knows that he still loves Abigail but because of his failures thinks he is not worthy of her, hence, gradually drifts away.

Originally, he was a strong and brave character, he's not like the leader Jake; get Rachel and mix her with Jake and you'll get a bit closer, but even then, he's a bit different than that. He takes the responsibility as a leader hard inside but shakes it off in front of the others. He's supposedly much funnier than Jake and not as serious –but still serious.

**Mark Fall;** Second in command in the F.F, he used to be Victor's best friend. This best friend relationship isn't like the friendship between Jake and Marco. For one thing these two will pull dirty tricks on one-another, which brings outrage to the other party, then after kicking the lights out of each other they'll come back and laugh about it; no hard feelings.

Mark's personality is typical in the outside; he's deviously bright, sly, has a tendency to stretch the truth when needed, strong, responsible, a stop-messing-around me-kind of person. And someone who will step up and say; 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth', so whatever the Yeerks do, he'll return it and more often; do it double.

So what happened to him after Sixkiller got introduced to the team? He put his life long friendship behind him and made it very clear that he wanted her 'his'. A more accurate picture of what happened (putting Sixkiller's character into mind) she practically had him wrapped round her fingers. Just clap and it's done. What appealed to him wasn't really her character but he chose her just because of her looks. She alone in the F.F understood Mark's need to return the Yeerks 'gratitude' double.

Victor's soft spot has always been Mark; he is used to pulling him out of trouble, so because of this, Victor invited trouble to his position in the F.F as leader, in no time Sixkiller managed to overthrow him and become the leader of F.F –havoc resulted.

**Mickey Taylor**; Mickey is a 'rich-guy' first, coward at heart second and Freedom Fighter third. No one is sure of where Mickey's loyalties lie. He doesn't like Mark very much, especially after what happened in the arrival of Sixkiller, he isn't very fond of Abigail either (nor is Mark by the way, Mark had specifically said that being an F.F is 'not a job for girls' in Abigail's face) Mickey has a special relationship with Dominic, they're friends because they could except each other's flaws much better than the others. Mickey has no ability to confront Sixkiller and is absolutely terrified of her.

His character? Well, he is a coward, he wouldn't risk his life for anyone, not even Dominic, he's spoiled because of his parent's attitude towards money (don't ask what his allowance is) and the only reason he actually fights is because he views his life as dull, routine and boring. A secret reason as to why he fights is because Mickey longs for a real friend, one that's not looking to lick away or take advantage of the money he owns.

After Sixkiller entered the team Mickey acted more withdrawn and sometimes missed meetings completely, he couldn't coupe with her demands, though when Sixkiller asked for money she got it (they used to buy weapons and blow the Yeerks up –when Sixkiller came into the team she turned the F.F into a well organized team of extreme terrorists)

Traditional meeting place for the F.F takes place in Mickey's mansion, his room to be exact, sometimes near his large pool and others in the garden (the F.F don't care much about people seeing them together –well they wouldn't, Mickey's mansion is built on private property.)

**Dominic Douberg**; Not much is known about him because he isn't a main character and doesn't take up a lot of attention, he's not close to any of the F.F (with the exception of Mickey) and keeps to himself. Background information; his parents are off in their busy lives and left him hanging, they are there but give him not even a second of attention, he has no siblings and never had a true friend. How well does he do in a fight? Not bad though he only does what he is told, he never adds extra input; if you say come here he would but he wouldn't help pick up the books you knocked over.

**Roger Spade; **he's huge, he's tough and he's stupid. I think the best way to explain Roger is to picture him as this huge dog. He's an extremely good fighter, quick in his combative actions. Massive in build. Loyal, kind, generous and a big softy (but not a softy towards strangers –he turns aggressive towards them grrrgrrr) Abigail says that if Roger was brighter he might have been her boyfriend, but Roger could only form a friendly relationship with girls and he wouldn't realize it as more than a friendship if he has these intense heartaches every time he looks at them. So the relation between them is a brother/sister sort of thing.

Roger's role in F.F is to keep it all talk between the boys in meetings, since all of them are capable of creating real damage Roger often knocks sense in those who don't listen, he's very loyal to Victor and will always do as he says.

There is an unknown side to Roger, he's mentally sick, he tortures animals and scares his little brother (Robert) in seriously demented ways –remember the cat incident where Roger cuts Meo-ow's tail off?

Roger's father died in jail and his devoted yet tired mother is left to try sort things out and fails to do so properly. Roger is his mother's 'big boy' essentially she still feels the need to watch over him. 

**Abigail Higgins; **she's a confused girl who tries to keep everyone happy and fails to make herself happy in the process. It was partly her fault that Victor drifted (she didn't complain when the two-way-relationship turned one-way –later on she couldn't cope with Victor's indifference and turned to Tom)

Often nicknamed Abby, Abigail has -as I said- a close relationship with Roger. She dislikes Mark but has to tolerate him because he is Victor's best friend, she isn't close to Mickey and Dominic but had been a true understanding friend to Jimmy. She doesn't like to take a life and is seriously in love with horses, and being a country girl (she's Irish actually) had liked Jimmy's farmhouse and became friends with his family.

Abigail does not like Sixkiller, though she could never find the strength to go up and say it to her face. When Sixkiller joined the team Abby was put aside and given minor things to do –just to keep her out of the way. Abigail's source of stress comes from her participation in a huge slaughter that took place in one of Sixkiller's terrorist attacks, (more than fifty humans killed and three times that number of Yeerks)

When Tom joins in the picture, Abby finds herself attracted to him but holds off slightly (at first) because of her loyalty to Victor. When Mark finds out that Abby betrayed Victor he rushes forward and convinces Victor to make her take part in a mission who's objective was to get Sixkiller back and leave Abby with the Yeerks. Victor agrees but only very impassively. Obviously Victor is not using his head –not only is he depressed because of the war, but finds out that his girlfriend cheated on him (serves him right but he just isn't thinking clearly. It came to him in a spur of the moment, for a few seconds he wanted to hurt Abby and Mark was there to reinforce him.)

**Jimmy Young; **Cassie's brother. His existence is wiped out due to Sixkiller who has unusual abilities (more about that later) Jimmy never appears in my story, he's simply the 'boy who used to exist'. Cassie knows nothing of this and a brief thing about him; he's much like his sister though he fights better. You'll find out later in this part of the story why Sixkiller wiped out Jimmy's existence, and why she'll threaten to wipe out Cassie's line too.

**Sixkiller- Sedra Elsettar; **she's the mysterious girl in part one of my story, she becomes a main charter in part two and plays havoc. 

In part one; Sixkiller is a prisoner to the Yeerks and Mark wants her out; this is all that is revealed besides her general nastiness. You'll get to know her better in part two because Mark rescues her from the Yeerks and we see what's the first thing she does to him; chapter one in Sixkiller- SXK flips Time, she has a very good way of repaying people, doesn't she?

**Tom Berenson**; brother of the famous Jake Berenson. He was liberated by the F.F. Their plan was to murder Tom's Yeerk but Jake (without knowing it –read chapter 4 in _part one_) was in the way and he ended up in hospital. Tom is is now free and living with Ax and Tobias in the national forest.

Tom develops strong feeling with Abby (she was the one who convince Victor to save Tom and just kill the Yeerk, Mark was against).


	2. Sixkiller

SIXKILLER 

And heeeeere it is! Chapter One! Technically chapter sixteen- the one I've been waiting to upload! Who was it that said they liked death by strangulation? Well, I've created a much more…creative… death. Visser Three will approve (am I the only one who still thinks Esplin is Visser Three? I don't care that he became Visser One he's still Visser Three in my head.) 

By the way, later I'm going to add a chapter before this one to summaries part one, but not now, I'm not in the mood to sum anything up. 

Anyway, enough talk and more of the story; 

PART TWO; 

**SIXKILLER- SXK FLIPS TIME**

_Chapter Sixteen_

"Come on," she urged softly in his ear, "We need this to look good, we need this to look perfect, we need it to look _real_."

The girl was of average height, her silhouette lean and frail, a typical feminine composition; it looked particularly so against Mark's sturdy build. One could see that he was rather occupied since he was sitting hunched on the few steps that led to an elevated dry surface in an underground sewer connection. The girl had finished lighting the couple dozen fire-torches –since the electrical ones were shot- and came to a stop inches away from Mark's bowed back. She was bent over whispering in his ear.

Mark looking a bit doubtful, returned the girl's reassuring grip on his arm, "Whatever you say. I just want to get rid of him, but don't hurt him though, okay? Victor's been my man since childhood."

"This friend of yours is rather a pesky weakling, why not just get rid of him completely? If we just push him off he's sure to come back with his righteous idiotic decisions, and who knows? Maybe he'll run to the Yeerks to get rid of us?" The girl's head tilted and her eyes flickered as Mark sighed loudly, but then she peeked into his eyes and took his face in her hands, and with the most modest voice she could muster she spoke, "I understand, you don't want him to hurt himself."

"Yeah," Mark sounded like he was trying to convince himself, "That's it."

The girl's black hair shimmered and her sinister eyes glinted with dark excitement, "I'll padlock the cage, I want this to look convincing, like I have you -the big lock will stand out."

"Right." Mark expelled his breath as he walked into the small cage; the vertical bars were reinforced by mesh wire to hold the animals that were confined to it. As Mark took his position he said, "Do you have to tie me to the metal cross? I don't see the need, what on Earth are you trying to represent, you know I'm not going to be standing here for long."

Mark missed the telltale twinkle of mischief that were characteristic to the girl's dark personality, she blinked her eyes to regain her innocent composure. "It's symbolic, don't you think? You're Christian."

"And you're not," Mark flexed his arms and shook his legs before taking his final position, as he watched her come over to him with the thick rope he commented in an offhand opinion, not imposing his view. This was a great mistake, hadn't he done so he would have noticed something fishy, if he persuaded the matter more fully and thought properly he would have realized, but no, "I don't think it has to be this…extreme."

"Yes it does," the girl gave him a small smile, "It paints a dramatic image. You tied to a cross and the doves in the cage with you? Why, it is rather symbolic; doves are a sign of freedom." In her heart she also knew that a dove is a sign of death, the rising of spirits to the heavens. It was not to Mark's knowledge she intended to portray the latter.

She worked quickly and quietly, nimbly tying each of Mark's extremities –hands and legs- to the appropriate places on the beam cross. This left Mark with the painfully narrow support of the vertical beam, cutting sharply into his back as she tied him securely; with his chest thrust out and his arms fully extended..

As she left him in the cage with the seventy or so doves, the girl's left hand trailed across the length of his arm and raked his hair, she kissed him gently and closed the door behind her, but before leaving, she agilely snagged a dove without capturing Mark's notice to it.

Tossing the bird in her back pack and covering it-to stop it from flying away in panic, she spoke loudly to mask her movements and throw off any suspicion from Mark, "I guess I have to bid you temporary farewell; so long. Sweetheart." She went back to the cage and started applying the padlock, despite her effort to conceal her previous activity Mark questioned her disappearing to the other side of the cage were he couldn't see her. She replied calmly, knowing that Mark was starting to sense something wrong about the settings, "I was getting the padlock, what's wrong Mark? You want to get out?"

Mark was no quitter, but the sight of the girl in the isolated underground connection had it's own appeals. Mark did not mean that at that particular moment he didn't find her unbelievably attractive, but something was screaming away at his guts, eating him alive, something that howled danger. What aided his gut instinct were the hellish hues of the tunnel; as if forecasting what lay ahead; the fire torches provided dim lighting; casting the entire passageway into shades of black, yellow, orange and red.

Seeing that he did not answer and taking his silence as a no, the girl spoke so quietly that it startled Mark, "He'll be here soon." She paused, not a deliberate gesture, but something that was more of a habit, "With him will be Roger."

Mark heard another scream from his mind, a queasy feeling overcame him and he suddenly felt like throwing up, he held it back, and tried to speak in an unwavering voice. "How do you know?" despite his efforts to keep pain out of his voice it slipped out anyway, the increasing torment of the metal beam was adding to his physical and mental stress.

"I just know." The girl looked at him with a smile, it was a sad sort of smile, but there was something not so humane about her eyes, they appeared obscurely black, the whites disappearing in the gloom, was it real or was his eyes playing tricks in the dark? Her simple answer had added to his growing nausea. She turned away adding a few swift words, "Now hush, we want to surprise them."

As her head turned away from him his eyes did it again, her face mutated completely, he no longer saw her clear honest face but a demonic countenance with black eyeballs and skin that seemed to decay before his very eyes.

Mark's head dropped, he felt a fever play across his body, his lips were parched and he longed to get a current of fresh stinging air. Yet the "we" in her sentence came back to him, he pushed aside his illusions and spoke; half repulsed half engrossed by his notion, "Then it will be you and me. Together." 

The girl –her face back to normal- glanced back at him; momentarily diverting her attention from the entrance of the tunnel, behind them was a dead end. "I will join you. Perhaps later. Yes." Smiling to herself she added; _maybe in the after life, if one even existed_.

The tunnel was consumed with the deafening ring of silence, the water underfoot made no noise since the air was dead still, there was no fast current, the girl was confidant that she would hear her the approaching threat ten minutes before it reached her.

And true to her belief, ten minutes after she heard faint splashing the vague figures of Victor and Roger appeared. After surveying the scene Victor took a step forward and his hand disappeared in his jacket.

"Damn you Sixkiller." Victor took another step forward. "What did you do to him?"

"Victor." The girl answered calmly, "Don't swear at me."

Victor swore again, he pointed a gun at Sixkiller, "Don't ever tell me how to run things and don't you dare tell me what I'm supposed to do."

Sixkiller was unarmed, but she felt no threat of any kind, "will you be so kind to your friend and listen on his behalf? I'm afraid that any rash decisions, like maybe shooting me, may and will jeopardize your dear friend's life."

"You bitch," Victor said in a low growling voice, "I'll shoot you right here and now."

Sixkiller's impassive eyes lit with anger, she swiftly strode across the side of the tunnel. She lifted something in her hand- retrieving it from her backpack. It was no weapon.

Victor laughed, "You really are wacko you witch, you're trying to threaten me? With a pigeon? You're even crazier than I thought possible."

Roger remained mute and unresponsive through all this, he eyed the girl suspiciously, Roger recognized that in the girl's hand was a dove, and what else? It had two crossed nails tied to its claws; the bird was a representation of all the other birds inside, they all had nails tied to their little bird feet.

"This dove, Victor, this one dove can lacerate your friend."

Victor hooted loudly, this caused the doves in Mark's cage to shift and shuffle. It was at this point too that Mark was becoming nervous, he didn't hear anything about laceration, what did Sixkiller have up her sleeve? And why haven't he noticed the nails?

"Bitch." Victor spit as he took aim. Chewing his tongue in an effort to steel his nerves; he had always found it hard to aim and shoot at the girl, but this time was different, this time he managed to psych himself into doing it, he had always had this phobic belief that whenever anyone stood up against the girl bad things happened. He'll never forget what happened to Jimmy. Never.

"Victor." Mark said cautiously, "Victor-"

"Don't worry buddy." Victor sounded a bit lost and childish as he spoke, "I'll save you, I know you care for this monster but this will only hurt for a while. Then we'll be back together like old times."

Eyes wide Mark eyed the doves, "Victor, don't shoot, please don't shoot." Mark was suddenly aware of the high numbers of birds in the cage; they no longer looked cute and divine; they spelled evil. He looked around helplessly, but Sixkiller had her back to him, "Sixkiller?"

"I'm sorry Mark, it's for your own good," Victor whispered as he closed one eye to take better aim, "You'll get over it."

"Victor!" Mark said, a few pitches away from shouting, he realized the immediate danger, it could not be avoided by screaming hysterical, the very screaming will cause it to happen. Mark's breath caught in his chest as he tried to come up with something to say, only he was bitterly trapped, and disappointed, he couldn't bare looking at Sixkiller, he just couldn't. "Victor I'm sorry tha-NO!"

Victor squeezed the trigger.

BAAAM!

The roar of the explosion reverberated across the tunnel.

The birds took flight in the cage. Mark started screaming in agony as the doves mercilessly ripped at him as they flew in confusion.

Victor forgot all about Sixkiller, dropped the gun and splashed towards the cage, "Mark! MARK! MAAARK! NOOOOOOOO!"

Victor fumbled at the lock as his friend screamed in terror and distress, finding that he couldn't get the lock open Victor started kicking at it, this caused even higher havoc in the cage the birds totally engulfed Mark's body, bird feathers floated out of the cage as well as specks of blood; from both bird and human.

Victor ran to his dropped gun, he vaguely noted Roger standing hypnotized staring at the rising form of Sixkiller. Victor ran towards the cage and shot off the padlock, he swung open the door and doves battered and tore at his face as he pushed himself in.

"Mark? Mark?" Victor's voice was cracked and tired, more and more birds flew out of the open cage, slowly he started seeing his friend's body…strangely red and hanging limp with the head dropped backwards. Victor reached for the head, tilted it, to look at his friend's face, "Mark I'm-ARRRRRRRRRGGHHHHHHH!"

"Arrghhhhh! Argh! Argh! Arrghhhhh! Argh! Argh! Arghhh!" Victor stumbled backwards and fell as his friend's head swung forward, his face bloody and unrecognizable and his left eye a mess of red and white while the right eye was a dark nonexistent socket. His cheeks were torn and so were his clothes. Blood dripped off his wounds, and the grizzly face of Victor's dead friend burned forever in his memory.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god. Mark." Victor -crouching with his hands over his heading shielding himself- whispered shell-shocked, "Mark, Mark. No, no, come back."

Victor was blind to all of what happened around him, he did not even notice that Sixkiller and Roger were scuffling over the gun, grunts and snarls from both fighters as they splashed into the water.

Victor continued staring at the horrific remains of Mark's body, he longed to look at his face, his true clear healthy face, but even that image was no longer available, all he could see was the flash of his muzzle and then him looking at Mark. He did not recall anything between, or anything before.

"Victor! Victor! Hel-" Victor's eyes reluctantly broke their gaze from his deceased friend, as he looked away he scrambled up crying to himself. 

"VIC-argh-hel-" A violent scuffle, more splashing and something flew and skittered towards his feet.

Victor in the gloom, barely recognized what the glint of metal at his feet meant, as another splash and scuffle occupied his attention he looked up to see Sixkiller sitting above Roger, his face held forcefully in the water.

Victor's mind worked slowly, registering his thoughts seconds after he had them, yet he had the greatest trouble adding up what he was seeing; Sixkiller plain in his view and unshielded, Roger's half immersed body, a gun at his feet.

Victor watched stupidly as Roger's body slowly ceased to thrash, and then, then he got it, but by then, it was too late.

Sixkiller got off Roger's back and kicked him, his lifeless body floated down stream, away from the cage, she dashed towards Victor and tired to tackle him, but she fell short and instead, reached out to grab the gun, Victor stomped her outstretched hand causing her to emit a sharp bark of pain, he grabbed the gun, shaking and taking a few steps back he said, "Go away, I'll shoot, I swear I'll shoot!"

Sixkiller rolled up to her feet. Victor cocked the gun. She froze.

"Go away!" Victor yelled, tears streaming down his eyes, he took another step back, stumbling on the few steps that led to the elevated surface and the cage, "I'll shoot!"

Sixkiller regarded his eyes carefully, "No you wouldn't. You wouldn't shoot me."

"I'll sh-sh-shoot! I s-swear it! Just go away, I'm giving you a chance to go. G-go away." Victor was terrified, he was babbling out anything, trying to look away from her beautiful face but was far too afraid to do so. In the dark, as he stared at her stunning face the image mutated into something that resembled a rotting carcass, he blinked trying to erase the image but it refused to leave, he wondered if what he was seeing was true; a gorgeous female converted into a hideous resemblance of a rotting corpse in seconds. Her dark eyes blazed.

"Take that gun down," Sixkiller said, her usually husky voice was as distorted as her image, he wondered if it was an illusion, if his eyes and mind were playing tricks. Beads of sweat covered his face.

"You aren't going to use it, give it to _me_."

"N-n-no. Step BACK! Stop it! Back off I s-say!" Victor yelled hysterically as she advanced. He waved the gun a little then took aim with a shaking arm, "D-d-don't. Don't take a step. Another s-step. Don't. I'll, I'll sh-shoot!"

"Victor." Sixkiller said with a low dangerously silky voice, blinking, the vile image was slowly dissolving back into the darkness, she looked like her old self again, her eyes –now tender and caring- her expression almost peaceful, "Bad things happen when little boys play with dangerous toys." She took another step forward.

"I'll shoot! L-l-look what you did to M-m-mark!"

"Oh, god." Sixkiller tilted a concerned head in Mark's direction –almost mockingly, then looked back to Victor, in a concerned parent's voice she said, "What have you done Victor?"

"I-I-I didn't do anything! It. It was you!" Victors eyes blurred with tears, he felt miserably alone and helpless, "It was all you."

"No. No. No." She reasoned with him the way a parent reasoned with a child that had done wrong. "You shot the gun. _You_ killed him. Look what you did to him." Her voice turned from hard to soft, "Victor, give me the gun, before you kill anyone else."

"I-I-I'll shoot! Don't. No! No! NO! NO! NOO!" Sixkiller was inches away from Victor's terrified eyes, in his mind, Mark's repulsive face flashed before him, he felt his grip loosen on the gun as Sixkiller gently pried it off him. He felt a cold shiver run down his spine and his entire body felt the growing heat of flames as her fingers brushed his.

"That's good. Now." Sixkiller said coldly, "I'm going to leave. Then later on, when someone finds you, you'll report to me, tell me what you see and what happened. Do you hear me?" 

Crying in submission and pure self-pity, Victor nodded his head.

"Good. Make sure no one sees you. I'll know where to find you." Sixkiller said curtly as she holstered the gun, she petted Victor's head and walked off, disappearing in the gloom of the tunnel; leaving a sobbing terrified Victor huddled in a corner with the two dead bodies of his beloved comrades.

Leaving him with clear evidence of his failure and an embarrassing stamp of his submission to her leadership.

A leader that will no doubt spread an evil far greater than the capacities of the Yeerk scourge; only a few things can beat a corrupt, evil human, and that would be another human with equal power and strength.

Such a person did not exist.

Yet.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Oh, nice isn't it? I'm particularly fond of the death by doves. Hehehe, my creativity is infinite –it's because I'm sooo evil. Either that or I'm related to Visser Three, hmmm, I don't know, I better check on that one. You'll find out the length of Sixkiller's deceiving abilities later on. I'm not sure that the eye tricks are actually eye tricks, there's something behind having Sixkiller's face mutate in the dark but I'm not definite on that, yet. So until then, I better go along and prepare the next chapter, I bet you want to know what happens -by the way, I am writing a reunion between Tom and Jake, I know it doesn't look like it but I am -in fact it's already written. 


	3. Reunion

SIXKILLER 

Jake meets Tom, the _real _Tom, and I got Jake to spew his feelings, I didn't over do it though. Enjoy; for those of you who have been looking forward to this special moment I've written the reunion in my style, which, em, is the only way I know of how to reunite those two. 

_Chapter Two_

"This is pathetic!" Jake hissed, "How much longer should I stay here anyway?"

"Just a few days big Jake." Marco laughed. "Then you're ready to fly out of here."

"It would be about time," Jake grumbled, "I've laid on my backside on this particular bed for way too long."

"Your parents want to be extra sure."

"My parents don't know anything about me." Jake exasperated, he grabbed the end of his blanket and pulled it over his face. Marco smiled then gave the signal.

"Hey Jake, that works back in our house just fine but you do that here and you end up in the morgue with a tag on your toe."

Jake practically leapt off the bed. Actually, because he had a sheet over him he got tangled in it and ended up with his butt on the floor.

Tom laughed. Walked up to Jake and ruffled his hair, "What's up Midget? Or should I say what's going down?"

Jake didn't move.

"Hey, is your brain located in your butt or something?" Tom let go of the lame jokes and sat down on the floor beside Jake. Marco nodded and took watch outside. Erek was waiting with him there. Erek is Tom's ticket to the hospital, no way would he have been able to go inside undetected.

Jake didn't say anything. Instead of looking happy he looked sad.

"You okay?" Tom asked gently.

Jake shook his head and then buried his head between his hands. Tom put his arm around his little brother and they sat there in silence.

Tom didn't know how many minutes past but for the first time in months he felt calm, the feeling was great. But there was also a familiar weight in his heart, it was the same feeling he had every time he looked at his family and his Yeerk taunted him, telling him how soon their turn would be. He remembered only too vividly the sort of helplessness he was forced to endure. He felt his vision cloud but he refused to cry. He had to be there for Jake.

Tom gently nudged Jake, "You want to talk about it?"

Jake lifted his head, and Tom was shocked to see that he didn't recognize the look that was across Jake's face. It was almost impossible. His little brother did not have his usual serious look but one that was far more concentrated, there was the seriousness, but there was also sadness, anger and exhaustion. Jake spoke not looking at his brother, "You want to know what's the hardest part?"

Tom thought about this, did he want to know? He knew that deep inside he didn't want to, but allowing his brother to talk may help both of them to feel better.

"_Every_ day and _every_ night, for the past few _months_. I had to-" Jake closed his eyes and clenched his fist. He opened his eyes again, they were blurred with tears, "I had to live knowing that you weren't you anymore, and I, I wanted you back but there was no easy way. I tired -we tried- to save you when I first found out about it. And I was so close. I was so damn close but…"

"You were the tiger." Tom said simply. "Weren't you?"

Jake nodded, he tilted his head and played with the end of his sheet, with a quavering voice he said, "At first I didn't know what to do, I mean, I did. I wanted to rip that thing out of your head but I, it wouldn't work, I had a responsibility." Jake shook his head, "I've never felt so helpless in my life, every time I looked at you and that thing kept asking me to join the Sharing, I felt my heart boil with anger, I mean I felt like I was sick.

"And when I found out that that thing was after Dad?" Jake sniffed, "I thought, _no way man_, _not my dad too_. And I had to choose, and it wasn't easy. I wanted you both, and I didn't want to loose you, I very nearly risked blowing our cover, I thought if that ever happened again then…I don't know…all I know is if I loose you again…" Jake's eyes closed, he couldn't continue.

"It's okay, I'm here now." Tom tried to smile, but couldn't, it didn't really matter, Jake wasn't looking at him.

"It's just that… knowing what it's like." Jake looked confused, he dropped his head then pulled it up again, like he was grasping for the words. "I know what's it like to have one of them in your head, and after that three day experience, I…"

"You called me," Tom said, he was surprised, "That was you on the phone?"

"Yeah it was." Jake mumbled suddenly feeling embarrassed, "Mom and Dad are really worried. What should I tell them?"

Tom stood up, he helped Jake back to his bed. He leaned forward and looked into Jake's eyes, "Tell them I'm dead. And when it's over Jake, we both would have a chance to talk to them about this."

"Yeah." Jake closed his eyes again, when he opened them he stared at the ceiling. "What are you going to do now?"

"Rachel said I'm staying with that Andalite."

"Ax."

"Yeah him." Tom fell silent.

Jake pulled himself up and gave Tom a genuine smile. "He has cable."

"No kidding?"

"I'm not pulling your leg, but hey, don't get between him and a cinnamon bun –really dangerous. Andalites don't have that much of a sense of taste, so beware when he's human and around food."

"Do I have to fight over the remote?" Tom smiled weakly.

Jake returned the smiled, "You're back Tom."

"Like I never left." Tom grinned, "and now there's one more person on your team."

"Yeah." Jake tried to smile again, "We'll beat them right?"

"We'll blow that alien scum sky high," Tom sat down beside Jake, "We'll show'em what sort of fighting the human race can set up."

"We'll fight them." Jake said, he looked up at Tom, "And this time you'll be there with me."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

When you think about it; its not bad, hey there's no hugs and kisses, sorry, but I just can't see our General here doing anything of that kind, talk about it? Yeah, Jake does have that sense, besides, what was I supposed to do? Get Jake to dance in joy? That's dangerous. Uhuh, just think of what could happen if he slipped. He could get a severe concussion and die! 0_o )

Oh yeah, before I forget; I want feedback, not that feedback is lacking but because I've had a particularly bad day. Did I mention a bad and boring day? And long? And tedious? Boy, that sounds like school doesn't it? And guess what? It _is_. I'd tell you what happened but that's another long story, and I don't want to get in that. 


	4. What’s left of the F.F force

SIXKILLER 

Okay, remember chapter sixteen what happened? Well, Dominic, Mickey, Tom, Ax and Tobias investigate the tunnel after the catastrophe. Can you guess what they find? (em, was that a stupid question or what?) 

_Chapter Eighteen_

"Down there!" Tom immediately followed Dominic's lead; he skidded down the steep hill and almost tripped over a corroded pipe. As Tom reached the bottom he noticed that the environment was badly polluted, there was a large stream that disappeared in a huge tunnel, this tunnel's entrance was in the steep hill side itself, the soil was red and dry, the tree's leaves a rotten yellow and the sky wasn't as blue as the forests'.

They were in the industrial outskirts of town, not far away Tom could see two columns of white smoke pumping out of two large chimneys, one was thin and long, the other thicker and rounder. Turning even more, he could see the cooling towers and a dirty river meandering from the industrial territory, it was the same river that offered them this stream that led into the tunnel.

"Right in here -if what's on Roger's note is accurate. It looked like they left in a hurry. The note was nothing more than a few scribbles." Dominic paused, he glanced back at Tom then at the Andalite –a nervous glance- "Roger's note didn't say what they were doing. This could be some elaborate Yeerk trap."

We know the risks. The Andalite said, We may proceed as you wish.

"Sure." Dominic nodded. He glanced at the darkening sky, "We better go in now."

The wolf that was with them took the lead, it stopped for a few seconds to allow the Andalite to pass in front of it, glancing back it said, Tom, be careful, it's dark in here.

"Got a torch. Mate." Mickey said, retrieving two torches from his backpack, he handed one to Dominic and another to Tom. Then he stepped back and jammed his fists in his pockets.

Dominic raised an eyebrow at him.

Mickey sniffed and then pulled out a cigarette, he lit it, "I'm staying out here."

Dominic raised his eyebrow higher and continued staring.

"Backup."

Dominic looked at Tom. Tom looked at the wolf. The wolf glanced at the Andalite then said, We have backup.

"Oh, there are more of you?" Mickey said nonchalantly, "I'll keep them entertained." Mickey blew a flawless smoke ring in the air; an art he mastered after spending way too many hours on surveillance.

"But you're supposed to be coming with us." Dominic objected cocking his head at him.

"Oi, French boy. I said, I'm staying out here," Mickey took a long drag, and drawling in his Australia English he said, "You fetch Victor and Roger so we could get out of this miserable place, okay?"

Dominic shook his head he turned to Tom and walked to the entrance of the tunnel, "let's go. Mickey _mouse_ will enjoy the chilly night."

Mickey formed a rude gesture with the help of his arms and hands, "Piss off! Dominos!"

Dominic laughed in amusement and took off down the tunnel, true to the wolf's word; the tunnel was dark. Really, really dark.

"You know," Dominic said to break the silence, "Would you mind telling me your names? Like incase we're in a fight and I have to shout something, I can't say 'the human wolf' or 'blue Andalite'."

True, I'm Tobias, my buddy here is Ax. The wolf replied, I guess that settles any confusions. And between you and me, don't ever say 'human wolf' that's something the Yeerks shouldn't find out.

"Sorry, I forgot," Dominic stopped walking suddenly. The wolf turned, What? Ax stopped walking.

"I think I heard something." Dominic looked worried.

The wolf laughed, I don't think you heard anything, I'd have heard it before you. Wolf ears are far more sharper than human ears, hey, I do know the difference.

Dominic nodded but he looked troubled, he played his flashlight across the stream.

"What is it?" Tom asked.

Dominic shook his head, "I don't know, just a feeling."

Tom stopped him, "A feeling is good enough for me, what's bothering you?"

Dominic sighed, "I really don't know, it's just that…well, it's not something the Yeerks would do."

Tom looked puzzled, "Then what are we dealing with then?"

"I don't know." Dominic muttered, "I just don't know."

They pressed deeper into the tunnel. Again, Dominic stopped. "Look."

"What?" Tom asked.

"The feathers."

Yeah, I smelt that, but I couldn't figure out what they were doing in here. Tobias wandered over to one of the floating feathers. Tom could you hold one of them up to the light?

Tom did as Tobias ordered, Tobias stared at the feather intently, It belongs to some sort of pigeon, I think, maybe some gull, but I'd put my money on a pigeon.

Is that important? Ax wondered out loud.

Could be.

"Look!" Domenic's flashlight caught a group of birds resting on something in the water. He splashed over towards them. They took flight in panic, flying towards the entrance of the tunnel. Batting at the air, Dominic mumbled "Jesus!"

What? What did you find? Tobias's silent voice was in Domenic's head, he gave it not attention.

Dominic knelt down towards the floating blob, it was a body, hesitantly he flipped it over.

"Yaaaah!" Dominic stumbled backwards and splashed into the water, he staggered up to his feet, stared at the face like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

You know this human? Ax demanded. The human's cause of death was obvious; the face was a mixture of blue and white, the ink-dark eyes stared glassily at the ceiling and in the flashlight the blond hair loked white.

Dominic turned away and heaved. He wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve then pressed his head against the side of the tunnel. He groaned loudly, "Roger."

"That's Roger?" Tom –aside from looking pale since he never saw a dead body before- sounded concerned, "He's Abby's friend right?"

"He was a friend to all of us." Dominic said bitterly, he stared at the water.

"I'm sorry." Tom said, he couldn't look away from the face. "But we have to move on, Victor is still unaccounted for."

Dominic shook his head, "He's dead too then."

Tom helped Dominic to his feet. "How can you be so sure?"

"I have a bad feeling about this." Dominic whispered. "Hey, that was why Mickey didn't what to come down here. I bet he knows what happened."

"Mickey's a coward. He wouldn't come down here even if he didn't know what happened."

Dominic shoved Tom off him, "hey, don't say that about my friend."

Tom fumed, "Sorry."

Dominic stood up on his own, "Let's get this over with."

This time Dominic took the lead, "Did you notice the blood on the walls?" he played his flashlight across the curved surface, "There must have been some sort of fight."

The feathers too. Tobias added, I'm going to try and catch one of these pigeons, there's something tied to their feet and-

"GET OUT OF HERE!"

"What the…?" Dominic jumped a foot into the air. There was someone shouting ahead of them, he seemed to be walking in circles in the dark tunnel, above the loud splashing the boy screamed frantically again. "GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

The sound was familiar to Domenic, but he couldn't figure out to whom it belonged, it was sounded tired and hysterical at the same time, whoever that person was he was either talking to himself or them. "ARRGHHH! LEAVE. ME. ALONE! NOOOO!"

"VIC!?" Dominic yelled, ""Hey is that you?"

The boy paid no attention to them, he continued screaming and shouting, as they hurried towards him. The boy walked further into the tunnel and disappeared into the gloom.

"Was that Victor?" Tom asked.

"I don't know," Dominic sounded worried, "Could be, let's g-"

Domenic stopped mid-sentence. He froze. They all did. Slowly, Dominic swung his torch back towards the spot it flashed over. It was a cage. Something was inside it.

In silence he approached it cautiously, his breathing became short and ragged. The beam trembled as he stared at what hung tied on a crossed beam inside, if not for the light metal chain around the neck he would never have realized who it was.

"Mark."

Dominic sat down on the elevated steps, he gave the cage his back and stared dumbly ahead. To say the least he was shocked; he buried his head into his hands.

"You're joking right?"

The Andalite had stiffened on seeing the body, the wolf's fur had bristled, immediately identifying that the body was in fact a human carcass. It hadn't been left out long, most of the blood was fresh.

"First Roger, now Mark." Dominic's voice was muffled and flat, "I didn't like the guy but he doesn't…no one deserves that."

"How do you think it happened?" Tom wondered fearfully, he didn't take a close look at the body, he didn't want to. "How…who would do this?"

Dominic stood up, he looked annoyed, he stared at them for a few seconds. "I don't know." He lied.

"What about Victor." Tom said, "Is he here?"

"I don't know that either." Dominic sounded angrier, his voice colder, "Why don't you find out."

We should ask him what happened. Tobias suggested.

"I for one am not interested."

You do not want to know who did this to your comrades? Ax wondered he glanced at his friends.

Dominic turned away, he started heading out of the tunnel, "I don't care, I don't want to know and I'm not going to try to find out what happened; this is _crazy_. I'm not going to have anything to do with it, if you want to, well, that's your problem."

Tom, Tobias and Ax looked at each other. Tom turned around, "Dominic, wait!"

Dominic didn't stop, he continued walking down the tunnel.

Tom shrugged, "They're a weird bunch."

He's probably shaken up. Tobias said, he cautiously trotted up the steps; These are his friends you know.

"According to Abby, Dominic wasn't ever attached to any of them, but he was found of Mickey, sort of anyway. He has his own respect to Victor."

He appeared genuinely shocked on seeing Roger's body. Ax frowned, Something about this is odd.

Oh yeah, Ax-man, you think?

For one thing I do not believe that Dominic doesn't know who is behind all this. Ax continued looking at Tom, his stalk eyes were pointed in Tobias's direction. What do you think Tom?

"I agree with you on that. Something just doesn't add up." Tom sighed, "We'll get no where on this, the only person who'd be wiling to help us isn't here."

I assure you Tom. Cassie, Marco and Rachel are highly capable of tracking down Yeerk movements –with the help of Erek of course. I am in no doubt that they will find a way of getting your friend back to you.

"I hope so." Tom said, "I'm just praying Abby didn't tell them anything."

Or get infested. Tobias pointed out, Look guys, I found someone, Tom, can you come up here? I think it was that guy who was screaming at us.

Tom did as Tobias asked, he walked up the steps and tried not to glance at the cage as he did so –the corner of his eye caught a flash of a raw body and a blood stained floor.

"What is it Tobias?" Tom asked, he couldn't keep the nervousness out of his voice.

But Tobias didn't need to tell him what he had found. Tom saw it just fine. It was Victor. And he didn't look so good.

In fact, he didn't look good at all.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

You guessed right, Mickey is an absolute coward, or at least, as bad as they go, there's more to what Mickey's about, he isn't really willing to sacrifice anything to anybody. Dominic is shaken up, he started acting weird for his own standards and oh, by the way, they took Victor in, they didn't just leave him sitting there, although no one wanted to have anything to do with poor Mark.


	5. What Victor Lance became

SIXKILLER 

_Chapter Four_

Sixkiller believed that there were three main types of warriors. The warrior who believed that luck contributed mainly to his ability to cross the front line; this warrior will run blindly into battle, close his eyes and thrust himself in, believing that standing back waiting to get hurt will only hurt more than hurtling himself willingly into the arms death. Two categories exist in this type of warrior, the warriors who do this in a seemingly un-foolish manner, the 'brave' warriors they are called, and there is the crazy warriors who are preferably considered as 'reckless' and 'nutsy'. Often these two sub-categories could be confused.

Category two consists of the cowardly warriors who run away from the battle line and back home into their mother's arms. These are the gutless fools who did not choose to fight and will not stand up to fight; not for themselves, not for their families and not for their kind.

And the third warrior, more noble to her eyes since she saw herself fit in this category of elite fighters. These fighters know –in some way or another- where each flying bullet is coming from and what is happening in every second of the battle, regardless of her position, she knows what is happening far away in the big picture, and she knew most importantly, that she was the little thing that was capable of inflicting huge changes.

This is what she was thinking of as Victor stumbled into her view, she knew which category Victor fit in, he was no coward, a fool yes, but he is brave. Used to be brave. And now he was her servant.

"Who found you?"

Panting, Victor carried forth his report, "Dominic, Mickey and a bunch of new resistant fighters. Tom's with them."

Sixkiller's eyes lit up suddenly, whether with anger or interest Victor failed to distinguish, "Tom?"

"Yes. The boy we saved. The one I spoke to you of."

"Yes. I remember," Sixkiller's eyes surveyed her surroundings, "Have they come with you?"

"I don't know." Victor said honestly, still wincing from his cramped side, "The new resistance fighters are morph capable."

"_What?_" Sixkiller did not appear very pleased; her large dark eyes narrowed dangerously, "Andalites?"

"One of them, yes." Victor said nodding. "The others are humans."

Sixkiller did not say anything for a few seconds, then with a fluid lightning-fast movement she grabbed Victor by his shoulders and slammed him onto a nearby tree, she spun him round and held him in a painful arm lock.

"Argh!" Victor moaned.

"You better not be lying to me."

"I'm not, Sixkiller this is the truth I-aahhhhhh!"

Tightening her hold she said, "Who are they?"

"They are the so called Andalite-bandits."

"What do they call themselves?"

"Animorphs!"

Still tightening her hold –causing Victor to cry out in pain- she asked, "How did they find you? Why do they have anything to do with any of you?"

"By- argh! Tom!"

"Lair!"

"They know him!"

"I don't believe that."

"You- you have to."

"No. _You _have to convince me." She hissed, "_I _don't have to believe anything."

"They know –ahh- Tom because the leader is Tom's brother."

"Did you see him? The leader?" Sixkiller asked, she sounded furious, Victor didn't answer, she pulled his arm harder, he screamed, she shouted. "DID YOU SEE HIM OR NOT?!"

"NO!" Victor yelled, "No, I didn't see him."

"Did you see _any_ of them as they are?"

"NO!"

"Then you are feeding me lies!"

"NO Ahhhhh! I- they told me! Tom told me." Victor winced, "But I, I saw the Andalite. And, and a wolf."

Sixkiller released her hold, Victor collapsed, gratefully relieved. But she grabbed him by the shoulders and looked intently into his eyes, "You _saw_ the Andalite?"

"Yes."

"What was his name?"

"I, I can't remember."

"_What_ was his name?"

"I- honestly! I don't remember!"

Sixkiller pulled Victor up angrily and shoved him away from her, he stumbled, picked himself up and started to scramble away. "Then you go find out who he is, what he is doing here, how he got here and how his comrades got their morphing capabilities."

Victor rubbed at his left shoulder, he stopped, turned around and mumbled a reply at the ground.

"Get out of my face." Sixkiller snarled, "And don't you dare show up without the information I need."

Victor turned to walk away but Sixkiller stopped him again by a shrill promise.

"And if anyone finds out you are talking to me you'll be lucky if I killed you. I'll hand you over to the Visser myself, the Visser and I have an…understanding."

Victor swallowed and walked away.

Sixkiller waited until he was out of sight, she wasted no time at all. She had to keep a few steps ahead of them all. She had to find out for herself who these new resistance members were, and if Victor came back lying…

Well, there will no longer be a Victor. 

It was as simple as that.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Oooh, tough isn't she? When she says 'business' then she means business. For some strange reason I don't feel sorry for Victor, he had it coming that idiot, who told him to loose it? Well, he didn't just loose it he got two of his friends killed and one trapped with the Yeerks, hmmm, speaking of Abby, you'll find out more of what happened to her later. I don't know if I'm planning to write a chapter about her or the rescue, its just going to happen. 

By the way, the next chapter holds a huge surprise. Something to look forward to anyway. The more reviews I get the fast I'm posting -does any of you know how much boredom examinations bring? And not only that but it makes people -like me- crabby. I've got a huge math final tomorrow and if I don't do good I'm history. Literally.


	6. Letter 1

SIXKILLER 

I'll tell you this much; Sixkiller signs off with the initials; SXK, nothing much about it, but lookie here, who is she sending this letter to? 

_Chapter Twenty_

To Dearest, 

I know it had been a while since I last wrote to you; but fear not my dearest, I shall write more, when the time comes for it.

So much had happened since I last wrote to you. I hope I did not alarm you greatly, for the enemy had imprisoned me. As terrible as the experience was I believe I had gained some wisdom out of it. And do not be saddened by this; for I know how much you hate to see me in pain, be happy for me, I am far more patient than I used to be, my temper flares not the way it used to. My anger is under control and reined, my tolerance for pain? Greater.

I still belong to none other but you; the fastidious human that used to think he shared a part of me is no more. I have killed him, and a great dignified death it was! If only you could feel my pleasure as the birds tore at his still living body, if only you could tap into the happiness I felt as he screamed in agony, if only you were here to experience the wild tingles of joy that ran –as if linked directly from heart to brain- from seeing his best friend suffer at his death! It was glorious; I could not have orchestrated a better-planed death and what's more, I killed two birds with one stone.

I am a human with a worthy word, I had promised Mark that I would not directly harm or kill Victor –indirectly is another thing of course- so be it; I did as I promised.

But as I said, I killed two birds with one stone, or shall I say three? Roger's coming was a bonus, I killed him in a scuffle over a gun, and Victor being the prime cause of his friend's death is my slave now; he is catastrophically afraid of guns now, the experience of shooting at me –missing of course, the fool never had much of a good aim- and scaring the doves at the same time set a chain reaction so beautiful in my eyes I wished to file away the memory to see it played over and over in my dreams; he is a servant to me, my personal spy. He belongs to none other than me, and if he serves his purpose, I will discard him. 

My thoughts are troubled now; I have faced a new complexity in a fragile equation that needs rearranging and balancing. I have not expected to encounter the so-called Andalite bandits, they are useful yet dangerous at the same time. Yes, they will make things harder on the Visser and at the same time me. But have no qualms my Dearest, for I have solved the problem. Well, no, not solved, simply balanced out the equation. I am glad I had killed Mark and Roger, this means I have two less people to deal with. I may have to resort to killing Abby or Dominic, though I do need the coward Mickey alive, he is another ticket –besides the tired Victor- to my victory.

I am perhaps wrong to say victory; goal is a more appropriate word. Victory is reserved for a single person or a body of people fighting under a cause. A goal can be achieved by sacrificing one's self. And I find nobility in achieving a goal by self-sacrifice, as do you my friend.

I cannot tell you my plans, but broadcast them only after it is too late, this way I would be certain that no one is capable of meddling with my plans.

I will tell you about these so-called Andalite bandits, this much I can tell you; they are not all human, and they are not all Andalite.

With intelligence reports from Victor, Mickey and me; I have already determined each of their characters and how useful they would be, I will not tell you their names now, perhaps later, but just so you know who I'm talking about, I'll call them this; American, Blond, Hispanic, African, Bird, Blue Deer.

The American I can lay off for later, though he is the leader he is incapacitated, yes, an unfortunate victim in a scuffle between Mark and Yeerk-Tom I will not reveal the details but shall tell you that Tom, American and Blond are closely related.

This is bad news; I do not need strong bonds in a group. I have to find a way to strain their relationships. But perhaps not, the strong bond itself is a weakness; do you not remember the saying of my race? Soldiers who are built like a wall fall like a wall? If there is a hole blown in it of course. And how does this help me? I have to remove a few bricks of the wall and the rest will collapse. Ingenious, isn't it? Remove a few members and the rest will follow!

American does have a close relation to the African girl. And to my surprise this girl is a relative to non other than poor ethically confused Jimmy, if the sister is a copy of her brother then she is the greatest weakness yet my strongest foe, if there ever will be an enemy against me it will not be the reckless blond, but perhaps the weak, pathetic, morally correct idiot who could jumble up my plans.

She is an abnormality! In space-time continuum! This does confuse my plans and may end up attracting Crayak or perhaps the Ellimist but I hope I do not commit an error in my calculations, a hair too early or a time slightly late may blow a hole in time itself, I have already mentioned to you that time is not what it should be, the Freedom Fighters are not meant to exist, just these meddling Animoprhs. The course they take to victory is similar but different to mine.

I have to remain focused my Dearest; I will not and shall not shatter my concentration on idiotic matters. Will you pray for me? I need more than my intelligence to balance time, I need fortune and luck on my side too.

I must leave you now, in my next contact I will briefly account the events that will take place. How happy I will be if they are conducted properly; I have to find a way to waste Blond, she is a strong one, perhaps foolish, but strong.

Make sure our prisoner stays alive; he is an important pawn in this game I play. Send him my fullest regards and tell him I am in close contact to _two_ relatives of his. And may be in touch with another of his kind.

I leave you now, I shall tell you that I still have an undying affection for you, kiss the little one goodnight for me. And shall your dreams be pleasant tonight.

SXK,

With love to Dearest. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

What on Earth is she doing? All of a sudden she's into letters? 

-Actually, it's necessary; all my other chapters were written in the third person, I needed a chapter on Sixkiller in first person narration (hey, I felt like writing a letter) if it wasn't a letter to 'Dearest' then you wouldn't understand why she's a bit…different, yeah that's it, different, from your average teenaged girl. Plus, you're going to be asking; who is Dearest? Who is 'the little one'? And who is the prisoner? 

Did I tell you I'm a master in attaining suspense? Well, now you know. Look out for the next chapter, SXK makes a move on Rachel -you'll _love_ this. I promise. 

By the way, I intended to post this later. I'm cutting further suspense by posting faster. Plus the story is much more exciting if you know you're reading the next part soon. Depending on the amount of feedback I'm getting I'll probably post the next part tomorrow or the day after that.


	7. Abby returns

SIXKILLER 

Okay, like I said; Abby's out. And sorry, I just wouldn't write how it happened, (I did say that this business about sending Abby to the Yeerks is vague) I promise I'll get something much more exciting for the next chapter. 

_Chapter Twenty_-one 

"Wha…What do you mean?" Abigail looked devastated.

Tom placed his hand over hers and peered into her face, "Roger's gone Abby."

Abby pushed Tom's hand off hers, she stood up, stared at the barn and the strange kids in it and then looked back at Tom, "What do you mean Roger's 'gone'?"

"I meant he's gone." Tom repeated gently. He attempted to hold her but she took a step back.

Abby stared at Tom with wide eyes, she started to say something, stopped, started to say something else and ended up saying nothing. She shook her head and tried again; failing. She touched her face nervously.

Abby glanced back at Tom, in a high wavering voice she said, "What do you mean he's gone? Is he gone? Did he leave? Is he-" Her voice rose higher and her eyes blurred, "Is he dead?"

Tom stood up before shooting a glance at Jake, "I meant he's dead, I'm sorry Abby."

Abby shook her head and fingered her short skirt, "No. You're wrong, no. It can't-"

"He's dead Abby, we found him yesterday, before we got you out and-"

"No. You're. WRONG!" Abby yelled suddenly, she defiantly looked scared, and angry. Tom couldn't help noticing that despite the situation her green eyes looked prettier when she was angry, and that her nose even smaller when it was red. As Abby turned away and back to him; the sunlight caught her hair and bleached it to a light reddish brown. Tom found himself unable to concentrate or even care about the matter; he just wanted to hear her speak –speak to _him_.

Abby's nervous fidgeting brought Tom's attention to her pale smooth fingers, and no sooner had he thought about what it was like to touch them, he found that his hand had subconsciously reached out for her hand. He pressed them gently not even catching himself.

"I know you're upset." Tom said slowly, still clutching her hands, Abby stared at him baffled, "But you'll get over it."

Tom wanted to kick himself as Abby flinched, snatched her hands back and yelled in disbelief, "Get over it?! Get over it?! He was my _friend_!"

"Abby that's not what I meant." Tom hurried. He noticed Jake's stare and Rachel and Marco's skeptic look –Jake was the only one who caught on to Tom's real mistake. And it wasn't his words.

Tom rubbed the bridge of his nose, "What I meant was that in time you'd find a way to except this. I know it's hard, I know what it feels like to be confronted by this."

Abby said nothing, her hand went over her mouth as the enormity of the news struck her; she'll never see Roger ever again.

"Look Abby-" Cassie started but Abby spoke at the same time, not even realizing that Cassie was speaking to her.

"What do I tell her?" Abby sounded awestruck, "What do I tell him?"

"Who?" Tom looked confused.

"Mrs. Spade." She whispered, "What do I tell Robert? What am I supposed to tell them?"

"Who?" Tom repeated looking at Jake. But Jake looked equally surprised.

Abby sat down on a bale of hay, the others had to move closer to hear her, her voice was low and stunned "Roger's mother, and his little brother."

"He has family?"

"Of course he has a family," Abby's voice snapped, "I can't believe this."

"Abby, you can't contact them." Tom reasoned, "The Yeerks know your face, they-"

"I don't care!" Abby said furiously, "We're talking about Roger here, and his family they- oh god, Roger." Abby slumped. She buried her hands into her face and muttered to herself, "Help me."

"Abby." Cassie said gently, sitting beside her on the bale of hay, "You can't go to them because that would attract Yeerk attention. You'd endanger them I'm sure Roger doesn't want that to happen."

Abby shook her head miserably, "No. He wouldn't want that."

Cassie nodded, she glanced up at Jake, "she's staying with the Chee right?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have family that you want to bring along?"

Abby nodded.

Tom said, "Your father?"

Abby shook her head, "No, I don't have a real father. But I do have someone I consider as family." Abby looked down at her nails, "And it would mean a lot to me if I could bring her along."

"Who?"

"Red."

"Em. Okay." Jake looked puzzled. "Who is Red?"

Abby actually smiled, "My mare."

"We'll have to ask the Chee." Marco said. He added brightly, "You like dogs though, right?"

Abby shrugged, she but her lip.

"What?" Tom asked.

"You know killed Roger?" Abby spoke slowly, as if she was thinking about something important, "and Mark. You know who kille- _murdered_ them?"

"We don't know." Tom sighed.

Jake spoke up, "I bet Victor knows, he was there when it happened. I know that if he tells us everything we could get going somewhere, besides waiting for the killer to spring up again."

"But he's not saying anything." Rachel finished for Jake.

Cassie said, "It's bothering us, maybe you should talk to Victor, you used to be close to him."

Abby's face hardened at little at the mention of talking to Victor –or even seeing him again. "That wouldn't be necessary."

Jake caught her cold tone. "Yeah? Why?"

Abby stood up and stared out of the window, she looked at Tom –still not used to the idea of talking to Jake. "I know who killed Roger. And I know who killed Mark too."

Marco shot Jake a look and then stepped forward, defiantly interested. "Who?"

"It's that bitch." Abby said coldly. "It has to be."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	8. Letter 2

SIXKILLER 

Read and enjoy. I did promised that you would like this. And you will -hopefully. I know the last chapter was short. And so is this. But bear with me, keep your fingers crossed and I'll come up with something longer than the few words I post. 

_Chapter Twenty-two_

To Dearest; 

What wonderful sports these Americans have. What idiotic ways they have to keep themselves amused! I confess Dearest; I have let my excitement get the better of me. I struck, perhaps a little too early. My, my, my, what shall I tell you about this exciting episode?

First I will describe to you the sport that I have witnessed; I have seen it in their school, yes, the so-called Andalite bandits do go to school. Anyway, the point is, this sport has it's extreme side, I have seen it deployed in military tactics, do you remember the method we use in clambering down a building? Or up? Well the Americans made a sport out of it; they call it abseiling.

This sport commands one to strap himself in ropes and protective gear and slowly proceed down a vertical; the school used the side of their building to serve this purpose, the one that overlooks their huge yard –much lager than our schools. With the help of a person above on the building roof who controls the ropes for beginners; the amateur climber goes down the building step-by-step -backwards!

An opportunity! It was a huge opportunity; you do know what they say? When opportunity knocks, don't knock back the opportunity? Well I followed the advice and…adjusted the equipment.

What can I say? I am slightly ashamed, but you should have seen the way Blond swaggers as she walks, I had to do something that would set her gait back to normal. I helped her in that respect. She should be thankful. Maybe later I'll get to hear her gratitude.

So what did I do? That over prideful girl had mustered the courage to be the first to go down her school building, and ohhhh, the sweetness, with an audience watching! The _entire _school! She knows my face very well by now, you see; she had a very, very good view of it as I sent her plunging towards the concrete!

It was as if someone set a fire of hot joy in my cold heart; seeing her fearful expression as she dropped like a cow to the concrete and 'SPLAT'!

You may notice that I am having some difficulty in composing myself, I am still excited; Bird could do nothing to harm me, -you should have seen his reaction, his flight became rather…erratic. He had been flying over the building watching his girlfriend go up and over; he had not suspected that she'd go up, over and down; ca-splat!

I have to leave, indeed this is a clumsy report, but forgive me, I have grown excitable, I'm off to run a course that will burn down my extra energy. I do have to keep that in check. My plan must not be thwarted by my excitement. Send my regards to all.

SXK,

With love to Dearest

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Rachel is soooo gonna be pissed. She's not dead, Sixkiller broke her fall slightly (I'm telling you this because I have no intention of killing Rachel) But oh man, Rachel's not the girl who will tolerate someone playing around like that. I mean, if that happened to Cassie she would have crawled away and Rachel would pulverize whoever hurt her.

This is not nearly as exciting as its going to become, just give me some more time and I'll have SXK in a tight situation with the Animorphs.

Please review! I _love_ reading your comments. 


	9. Rachel's nightmare

SIXKILLER 

Hahaha. A chapter that's longer than the rest. Finally. And you know the best part? I finished it at the same sitting. Usually I'd repeat a chapter twice or even three times just to get it right. But this time? Perfect. Came out just the way I wanted. It's cool. I like it. Rachel's having some problems. 

Wow. I'm uploading fast these days; must be because exams are almost over. *Phew* I'll probably post this fast if I get the chapter done as fast as I did today. 

_Chapter Twenty-three_

Strange for a nightmare; it was daytime.

There was none of the darkness and spooky sounds. Rachel saw everything clearly. Just like it happened.

Only this time there was complete silence. As she stepped on the ridge and peeked down she felt mildly dizzy. It was a long way down. _A long way to go down without wings_ Rachel thought to herself.

Rachel felt a presence above her. Tobias. Soaring high on thermals. A breeze caught her hair and she thought that when this was over, maybe she'd join him. It was not a bad day.

Nice day. Good weather. Doing normal things. At school.

Nothing could go wrong, yet why was there this queasy feeling in her stomach?

Fear. Rachel never liked it. Her usual response was to floor it and go ahead. But the technique did not work. Besides the uneasiness there was a vague feeling of de-ja-vu.

Rachel, as usual, ignored the feeling, she got ready, waved at the school and smiled at the teacher who was going to control the safety line. "You better not let that go." Rachel joked, "Its my first time at this."

"What, this rope? You wouldn't fall if I let go. Well, you'll go down a couple feet- that's all. But don't worry." The teacher grinned, "It's a piece of cake. You'll see."

"I don't worry." Rachel muttered.

The wind caught her hair again. Rachel raked at her hair and then placed the helmet. She turned around one more time, "Do I look good?"

The question wasn't really aimed at the teacher. He replied and Rachel ignored him. She didn't ignore the next reply. You look great. As always.

Before starting, Rachel located her friends; Jake, Cassie, Marco, and Ax. They were all there; some for curiosity, some to cheer her on, and some just waiting for her to screw up -Marco. 

"Here we go." Rachel yelled. And the school cheered as she started to go over the brick wall; the hardest part, then, she felt her trainers hit the mat that was hung on the building wall –for safety, incase at the first steps you banged or scrapped your self, the rest of the wall was un protected, just this little bit at the top.

The cheers melded together into a robotic groaning and disappeared in the background.

Rachel found herself grinning madly at the teacher's face –who was leaning over controlling her descent –just in case.

The first to go down; Rachel had been thrilled to be the first. She loved the rush of danger. And this for her was a miniature version of what she liked to do. This was harmless fun. Sure, this would have been a lifetime ordeal for some loner or a thing to gloat about for your average air headed girl –who may not actually attempt this. But come on, Rachel groused to herself, this is my little time off! To do what I'm good at and actual show off!

It was the end of fun and the beginning of dangerous when –very suddenly- the teacher's face was yanked out of her view.

At first she thought nothing of it.

But then there was scuffling. A grunt. Metal clinking and an audible snap –a rope snapping.

Rachel lost foothold and careened into the building wall. The school groaned and then started cheering madly as she righted herself. She was just out of the mat's reach. So there was no protection as she banged herself.

"_RA-CHEL! RA-CHEL! RA-CHEL!_"

"Help!" Rachel croaked. Her heart was stuck at the back of her throat, why wasn't she falling if the rope broke? Which rope broke anyway? "Mr. White?"

No answer. Rachel shot a look at the skies. Tobias was starting to flap towards her but he was too far away.

Then she heard, Tobias! Why are you heading towards the building? Prince Jake says your activity may bring Yeerk attention. He requests that you fly over the building and away.

No way! There's someone on the roof! The teacher's knocked out!

We do know that some of the teachers are controllers. Ax cautioned. Even if there is a problem. This is not a good idea.

No answer. Tobias kept going higher.

After a while she heard Tobias comment quietly to her. Rachel. Climb down, quickly!

Rachel was doing just that. But instead of feeling outrage or tingling excitement at the rush of adrenaline –her original emotions- she felt fear. She felt sick to her stomach. If she went down she could not morph to get out of it.

Something was going horribly wrong.

She felt someone's eyes on her. She looked up.

Time seemed to stop all together.

"_RA-chel! RA-chel! RA-chel!_"

The school was cheering madly, oblivious to the danger.

And again, the cheering melded into strange faraway moaning; she had to strain to hear it. And everything else was blurry. She couldn't see anything. Was she starting to faint? It seemed like it. She could see pink and green molts appearing in her vision. There was buzzing in her head and she could barley swallow. Her breathing was shallow. She was helpless. Stuck less than halfway down the building, clinging to dear life with a rope that's undoubtedly unstable.

The eyes! That's what she saw so clearly. The large dark eyes. Black poison. And here's what Rachel did not understand.

The girl -she was not smiling. Or sneering. Or grinning at her. She didn't look angry. Her face seemed clear of any emotion –except this- this deep concentration. A careful look. There was no hardness to her eyes or face –at that particular moment- she looked so beautiful. So dangerous. Yet her eyes had a repulsive look. Her face was anything but dangerous. It was a contrast. The face was not kind. No. It was something else. The expression did not belong to a human. It was almost indescribable. The coldness of her stare was there but untouchable.

She didn't tell Rachel _anything_. She didn't _say_ anything.

She didn't say her name.

She offered no reason why she was doing this.

She just did it.

She let go of the safety rope. She must have snapped the one tied to the beam first. But, the significance was; she let go of the rope.

Rachel did not know what she heard first; the screaming of the rope as it whipped out of its harness? The gasp that came from the audience? The screaming? Tobias's yelling? No.

She knew what she heard first. It was whispering. She heard it because the wind brought the words to her ears. The girl at the top was whispering something. A look of fascination on her face. A twinkle of excitement. And after whispering she slowly brought a clenched fist to the air. _Cheering_. Praising Rachel.

"_Ra-chel! Ra-chel! Ra-chel!_"

It was soft husky whispering. It brought a chill down Rachel's spine. A wave of sickness passed over her. A cold tingle in her fingers.

Then the girl must have let go. Because the other hand, the one that was holding the rope went up. A guarded expression came upon the girl's face. Then she smiled ever so gently.

Rachel plummeted.

The rope screamed madly. Or was it whining? Yes. The school screamed. The rope whinnied as it was yanked out of the metal harness.

Horrendous nose.

It was an awful feeling. Falling free flight; falling, tumbling in the air with the knowledge that the hard concrete was the only thing that was going to catch you.

And as if in a movie, a dramatic pan-out as the non-existent cameras zoomed away form the girl's eyes. It was like one minute; Rachel was looking at just the dark huge eyes and they were filling her entire vision. And the next second, the girl was a tiny silent figure far above.

But the girl had not turned away. She had not broken eye contact. She was watching Rachel fall. She had leaned over and her long black hair hung down around her face.

Rachel must have screamed.

She saw how dangerously far she was from the lip of the building. She knew impact was not far away.

But the two girl's eyes were still locked on each other. And an understanding, so deep and far away took place. What the girl was thinking of was unknown to Rachel. All she knew that she disappeared form her view for a second.

And the rope went taught.

The rope that had tangled around her left leg in the fall.

An audible SNAP and a bright seam of pain hit her brain. Rachel's cloudy vision noted that she was not too far away from the concrete. The girl must have known that too.

THUD!

She hit the ground. Hard. Her feet made contact with the pavement for a millisecond then gave way; her back hit the concrete. The impact knocked her breath away.

She heard thundering of shoes as a few dozen people rushed towards her. Someone yelling "Don't crowd her!"

"Someone call the ambulance!"

"God, is she dead?!"

"Rachel!?"

"Give her space!"

And then, with her darkening vision, she saw her. Still there. Still watching. So high above her. Untouchable. Unreachable.

Acknowledging the fact gave rise to a wave of sick anger. Then intense hate. Followed by an overwhelming tidal of fear.

"Oh, my god, she's dead!" Hysterical wailing.

"Rachel!"

"Call nine-one-one!"

"I knew this sport was dangerous!"

"Rachel!"

"Sir! We sent Ann to do that."

She could barley make out the lips moving. Maybe it was her imagination. No way could she have seen that. But they were moving all right.

"_Ra-chel! Ra-chel! Ra-chel!_" Husky whispering. The words so harsh to her ears. Rachel blinked and the eyes disappeared from her view. The face was no longer there. Or was it?

Rachel turned her head away and tried to swallow. For some reason her vision was limited to the spot so high above her.

"Don't move!"

"Rachel!"

"Where's the school nurse?"

"Rachel!"

"Back off people. Back off!"

"_Rachel!_"

"Oh, no, no, she's goanna die!"

"_Rachel!_"

"Shut-up. No one's going to die."

"I've never seen anyone. Die. Oh _god!_"

"_Rachel_."

"_Rachel, wake up!_"

"Argh!" Rachel yelped.

"Hey. Its me." Cassie grabbed Rachel's arm.

Rachel shoved her off. "_Don't touch me_."

Cassie jerked away, surprised. She shot a look at the nurse, reminding her that the conversation should be limited.

Rachel found herself getting angrier. "I know."

Cassie looked awkwardly at Rachel. "Are you okay?"

"Uhuh."

The nurse finished changing the IV drip and took off. Cassie looked around nervously. "I was worried when you wouldn't wake up. I hope I didn't bother you."

Rachel's nightmare wasn't out of her mind yet; the memory caused her to shiver. Then she got angry with herself. Why was she afraid?

"When I get that-"

"If you're going to sit here swearing like you did yesterday and the day before, then I'm leaving."

Rachel folded her arms across her chest and stared blankly ahead.

"Come on." Cassie said gently, she sat down on the bed, "You could talk to me. I'm your friend."

"What is there to talk about?" Rachel's voice was on edge. Tense.

Cassie raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? What? Isn't all this plenty to talk about?"

"All what?"

"The attitude." Cassie looked upset. "Is there something that's bothering you?"

"No," Rachel snapped, but then she stopped, looked at Cassie and said, "If there is, you promise you wouldn't tell Jake?"

Cassie laughed and said, "why would I tell Jake?"

Rachel gave Cassie a look.

"Okay. Okay, I wouldn't tell."

Rachel started slowly, unsure of herself, "You know, ever since I came here I can't remember parts of what happened."

Cassie shrugged, "That's okay. Your brain probably doesn't want to remember it."

Rachel shook her head, "no, that's not what I meant. What I mean was that I…Look. I remember exactly what happened. I remember how it happened. When it happened. What people were saying –all the way down to being in the ambulance. Heck, I also remember things that I didn't take notice of before. But what I don't remember is the way I felt about it."

"How do you mean?" Cassie said carefully.

"I've had dreams about it." Rachel said, "well, nightmares. And Jeez. Must have had the same nightmare over and over again. And it changes. At first, it was exactly like it as it happened. Then…well, I still fall. I still talk to Tobias but I change. My feelings about it change. And I can't remember. I get confused. I mean, I'm starting to think that I was actually afraid. Like, afraid that I was falling."

"Rachel." Cassie said gently. "Anyone would have been afraid. It was a long fall with plenty of time to think about it."

"No." Rachel said, sharper than she intended. "Not that type of afraid. It was a different fear in my dream. I don't know. It was like I could…I knew it was happening –in my dream. I knew I was going to fall if I went over the wall. I knew what would happen. I knew that if I took the decision to go down she's going to come. But you know what? That doesn't stop me. At first it was; she's not going to stop me from doing what I want to do. I'm doing it and if she does anything I'll pulverize her, I'll kill her!

"But then, the dreams change, I'd know it's going to happen, it's like a gut feeling; I just _know_ something bad is going to happen. And you know what? You know the worst part? I continue because I'm _afraid_ of waiting for her to show up. All of a sudden I'm not angry or outraged at her, for doing what she did. I'm just afraid. I just want to crawl away and do what she wants because that would be so much better than facing her."

With out noticing it Rachel's eyes blurred slightly, frustration rose. "I mean, I don't know what's gotten into to me. But when I look back at what happened I'm so angry. She was acting so cowardly and all because she wouldn't face me on a head-on confrontation. Instead she weasels around with the equipment. But then I have the dreams and I find out that her weaseling around was like this act of mercy and I should be thankful because she wouldn't face me head on, I wake up and I'm angry that I was relieved. The nightmare ends and I'm absolutely terrified because somewhere along the line she knows something, I don't know how, but she knew something."

Cassie was mesmerized, taking in ever word Rachel was saying, "What do you mean she knows something? Why are you afraid?"

"I don't know." Rachel looked agitated, "When I'm awake I'd think it was cowardly, her act, attacking me when I had no defenses. But when I'm dreaming it's like, I don't know. She's saying something. Something important. Like warning me. But no, it's. I don't know! I don't know how to explain it. But it gets me mad."

Cassie didn't say anything.

Rachel laughed -at herself. "_What_ am I talking about?"

"Its okay." Cassie said, "I bet it was the fall. You know the frustration of not getting to use your powers to the full extent. By morphing you could have gotten away."

Rachel snapped her fingers. "That's it! Morphing. Why didn't I think of that?" She grinned. "I'm just waiting to sink my teeth into her."

"Yeah." Cassie said dryly, "We wouldn't wait to find out why she did it."

Rachel looked up, "Yeah, I wonder why."

"So. You feeling better?"

"Yeah." Rachel admitted, "It seems a bit stupid now, after I talked about it. Yeah. It must have been nothing. I couldn't deal with not being able to grab her and smash her head to the concrete. That must be it. Nothing to worry about."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Right, nothing to worry about. By the way Rachel's not having a metal breakdown and she didn't cry or anything. She's just…confused. It's not the sort of thing Rachel is used to. She's used being up front where all the action is. Used to being able to grab the enemy and deal physically. So, when it comes to mentally challenging the enemy and dealing without violence, well, it just doesn't fit our Rachel, does it? 

If there is any confusion about the ropes ignore it; I figured there's two lines, you know? One that's fixed to the building and another that could be used to shimmy down the wall, I don't know, I've never been abseiling but I've seen it happen. 

Anyway, watch out for when Sixkiller meets Rachel. Who knows, maybe a bit more than sparks will fly. Maybe they wouldn't be able to touch each other at all.


	10. What Abby knows about SXK

I know, I know, I'm _really_ late. But it's not my fault. I did mention somewhere in part one that you people shouldn't be alarmed if I happened to 'drop dead'. The luxuries of moving; sort of wipes out Internet access and cable access, but hey, if I do get the chance to get on-line again I'll post as many chapters as I can.

Sadly, this is it for today; 

_Chapter Twenty-four_

"What sort of idiot has a name like that?" Rachel demanded, "Sixkiller? Excuse me, but who on Earth gave her that name?"

"Not her mother –that's for sure." Abby muttered.

"What's her problem anyway?" Tom wondered, they were all in the barn, the whole team –with Abby. Of course Rachel, had a cast on her leg, Jake –smirking- insisted that she should tolerate the torture he received previously.

Abby turned away.

"You haven't been up front with us on this subject," Jake said, "That was okay before but now I'm afraid we have to insist. I'm not going to stand around waiting for her to show up uninvited. We need some information about her, like what are her potentials? What is it that she wants?"

Marco nodded, "I'm not getting any clear motives here. This girl got your friend Mark and Roger brutally murdered, she turned your leader into a fruitcake"-Cassie raised an eyebrow-"she knocked Rachel off the school building- and for what? She hasn't asked us for anything. What is it that she wants? She did not even talk to us."

Abby shrugged.

"Hey-" Rachel said sharply, but Tom cut her off. Rachel glared angrily but remained silent.

"Abby. We need your help. What does she want?"

Abby shrugged again, looking very troubled, "I don't really know. I never understood what she wanted. After Vic stopped being first in command she waved me off. I have no idea what she could have been up to."

"Are you saying Victor knows what she wants?" Tom asked.

Abby snorted, "I doubt he would tell you."

"Mickey? Dominic?"

"Dominic would just ignore you if you talked about Sixkiller. Mickey would turn around and walk away. Forget them. They're useless."

And you're not? Ax commented bluntly, Correct me if I am mistaken, but you seem to be just as useful.

Tom glared at Ax and Jake admitted a little smile.

"I'm not going to get anything out of telling you people what she wants or what she could want." Abby said slowly. "But since you've befriended me I suppose I owe you some."

They all waited.

Abby sighed. "I told Tom this. I don't know if he told you or not. But I'm repeating it just for the record." Abby paused, "We first met Sixkiller near a river. In the middle of the forest, it was night and we were recuperating. You see, that day was a particularly good day. We managed to get the job done. No one hurt, no one left behind- no complications."

"No one would have noticed her at all. We could have passed meters away from her and we wouldn't have seen her." Abby shook her head, "But Victor said he heard a sound, at first we laughed it off. But then we heard it. It was awful." Abby shuddered, "I don't know if it was Sixkiller herself who was making the noise, back then, we didn't relate the sound to her, but now…..now I wonder, I really wonder."

"The sound." Cassie said suddenly, feeling a shill go down her spine, "it sounded like a…it was like a shrill scream. Part howl."

Everyone stared at Cassie, except Abby who turned away slightly. She murmured, "Yes, just like that."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Marco said. "Hold your horses girl! What does Cassie have to do with this?"

Cassie looked confused.

Abby said. "She has nothing to do 'with it' but someone close to her used to know something about Sixkiller."

"Um, someone I know?" Cassie asked. "It isn't someone in here is it?"

The animorphs looked at each other in turn; everyone shaking his or her head.

"No. It isn't someone in here." Abby said gloomily.

"My family?"

Tom sat up. Paying close attention –he knew what was coming next.

"Yes." Abby said. "Someone in your family."

Cassie looked sick, "My parents?"

"Could be your grandmother." Jake muttered.

"Not your parents. Someone closer than that." Abby's eyes filled with tears.

"A cousin?" Cassie looked baffled, "But I don't have any cousins."

Abby took a deep breath. "Your brother."

There was a brief silence, then Marco laughed. Jake said, "Cassie doesn't have a brother."

"Yes, she does." Abby said, "I mean, she used to, but he's dead."

"I never had a brother." Cassie said slowly. But she didn't look a hundred percent sure of herself. Something was nagging deep within Cassie's conscious mind.

Ax looked at Abby skeptically and Tobias's infamous glare was present. Rachel shared the same concerned look Jake had for Cassie and Tom's attention was drawn to Abby.

Abby, spoke quickly, rushing over the words as if afraid to stop to look at Cassie, she twisted her fingers as she spoke. "No. In _this_ timeline there is no Jimmy. But in another one -only god and a few other beings know how- he existed. Cassie you used to have a brother, an older brother, just as old as Tom or me. He used to be a freedom fighter. But now, he is a causality of war. No one remembers that he exited. Only us. The freedom fighters. This was Sixkiller's doing, this is her potential. You have to understand that none of you are equipped to handle her. She is dangerous. She will always get her way. You have to back off. I'm sorry."

Rachel barked out a laugh, "No, _we_ are sorry. Let me tell you something. _We_ don't back off just because there's someone out there bigger and meaner than we are. We've been in situations like these before; we know how to handle. All _you_ have to do is tell us more about her."

Marco muttered, "Speak for yourself."

"How can she do this?" Jake said sharply, "She isn't the Ellimist or even Crayak. She can't mess around in time."

No Prince Jake, Ax interrupted, We do know someone who wasn't an Ellimist or Crayak but was still able to 'mess around in time'. That someone was my brother.

She has access to the Time Matrix? Tobias wondered.

I do not know. Ax said, But it is a dangerous possibility.

"How come the Ellimist didn't interrupt her work?" Marco pointed out, "He fixed Elfangor's mess. Crayak summoned us to stopped Visser Four. And both of these two were meddling with time. They both used the Time Matrix and were stopped by either of Crayak or the Ellimist. Why not stop her?"

Abby hesitated, "I don't know. I've never met either of the Ellimist or Crayak, but I know something about them. And I'm also wondering why they didn't butt in."

"Tell us more about this girl." Cassie urged, "What's her real name?"

"Sedra." Abby said, "I don't know much about her personal life –she never talked about that."

You said she was able to overthrow your previous leader. What did she do once she was first in command?

Abby stared at Ax, as if she didn't understand the question, but then she answered. "She turned us into a group of terrorist. We used to hold back and react to whatever it is the Yeerks were doing"-Jake nodded-"But Sixkiller? She doesn't wait. She wouldn't wait for the Yeerks to think of something creative. She hit them hard every month or so. We'd hamper many of the Yeerk tasks. But they keep coming and with that, Sixkiller's attacks grow more and more aggressive."

"Sounds like someone I know." Marco muttered trying not to look in Rachel\s general direction.

You attacked the Yeerks? Ax frowned, How did you manage to do that without morphing. You are not a morph capable batch of warriors.

Abby gave Ax a bitter smile, "That didn't stop Sixkiller form dreaming up ways of getting in. Of course, as you know, once the Yeerks discover how you got in it isn't long till they close that particular area off. Sixkiller is aggressive beyond belief. Hey, she even managed to get Visser Three afraid of her. I'm not surprised."

"What is it that she did?" Rachel didn't look impressed.

"What is it that she did?" Abby laughed, "Maybe it's easier to tell you what she _didn't_ do; because those are countable." Abby shook her head, "we –Sixkiller- attacked the Yeerks with chemical weapons. She used to time bombs to blow up parts of a building we were going to raid. Sixkiller isn't big on going in on noticed. If she wants something, Visser Three is sure going to notice her advance."

That's very bold. Tobias muttered.

"No kidding." Marco said, "I bet Rachel here is thrilled. Jake, maybe we should send Rachel off. We don't want our girl getting any ideas."

"Marco. Shut. Up."

"What are you going to do?" Marco taunted, "You know you're not supposed to morph. You can't touch me."

"I can whack you with my crutch."

"Shutting up."

"Sixkiller didn't care which type of Yeerk troops were deployed on her. Visser Three uses Hork-Bajir as primary troops. When causalities were extremely heavy he sent humans in hope that Sixkiller would stop the slaughter. That didn't work. Sixkiller does not care whose brain the enemy hides underneath. She'll kill. She's mad you know. Absolutely _nuts_. Her objective had always been to wipe out as many Yeerks as she could. She did that good. Until Visser Three managed to catch her."

"He caught her?" Jake questioned.

"Well." Abby sounded nervous, "I shouldn't put it this way. But if you want the ugly truth; we handed her over."

They all stared.

Abby fidgeted, "_I_ handed her over."

Another long silence.

"And if she finds out. Well." Abby tried to smile, "I haven't much to loose really, have I?"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Over so soon? I guess I should tell you that the next chapter will reveal to you who SXK's prisoner is. Take a deep breath and when it does come; read on.


	11. Letter 3

Due to an increase in impatience I have decided –quite generously- to reveal two of the secrets I have kept…uh… a secret. Anyway, you may know who they are but you will not know why they are there. At least not now. 

_Chapter Twenty-five_

To SXK,

The hologram is ready. I will send it to you when you need it. I have intervened my artistic talents into this, there is a live footage, I have made my prisoner angry enough to speak. The other snaps are still-photos; I had taken great pride in capturing his posture. I made sure he looked like he was having the time of his life.

By all means write to me.

Your Dearest,

Zohare had sent the message ages ago, he wondered how long it would be until Sixkiller received it. He felt a great pleasure in reading her letters, she was one of the few contacts to the real world he had.

Zohare is a sort of outcast. What sort should not be mentioned since it may blow his cover dangerously. Of course, that is not saying that Sixkiller doesn't know what sort of person was Zohare. She knows.

It was not a clean and tidy place, and by this I am talking about Zohare's home. Zohare himself will say that there is no such thing as 'clean', 'neat' and 'tidy'. Creativity? This exists.

To the normal human, having a door stuck in the ceiling with a ladder that wraps its way around the walls to get to it; is not only stupid but illogical as well.

For Zohare it makes perfect sense. It means that he could go in and out as he pleased while his prisoners stay…imprisoned.

Everyone knows Andalites cannot climb ladders. At least, not with those hooves and hands they couldn't.

Zohare does not allow his prisoner to roam as he likes, but there is a danger in assuming that the little cell he had built underground was a hundred-percent inescapable. Of course, Elfangor couldn't morph in the building –due to a piece of technology installed- and nor could he use his tail blade –since it was sheathed. So he would be helpless if he did get out of the one-way dungeon cell.

The only way into the cell is through a trap door that is hidden beneath a heavy Persian carpet. Zohare only opens the trapdoor to give his prisoner food or to carry out orders from Sixkiller. Nothing else. There is no nice chatting or anything, he always approached the prisoner in silence.

Or sometimes he would open the small slot that's in the trap door and stare down silently at Elfangor, he would say nothing or do nothing, just observe him. And this, more than anything, drove Elfangor crazy. 

Right now Zohare was eating breakfast, he had purposely chosen the house he was in to be made out of wood so that his footsteps could be translated to the cell, Elfangor would be able to tell where he was, what he was doing and what he would be doing just by hearing the steps.

Silence meant that his torture was not home.

Four steps walked from the bottom of the stairs meant that he had gone to watch TV.

Six steps accompanied by scrapping of a chair means; his torturer is at the table where he would eat or work on something.

Eight steps; the bathroom.

Ten steps; confusing because he stops and doesn't move.

Twelve; the mail.

Fourteen; his own food –a mixture of grasses- delivered down the slot.

Twenty; which is fourteen steps towards him and six spent on walking round the trap door; his torturer is going to just stare at him.

Twenty-four steps; which are fourteen steps towards him and ten spent on walking round the trap door; his torturer is going to inflect pain.

And this is basically what Elfangor's enforced life meant. He could barely stand it if he counted above fourteen, wondering if he would stop at twenty or twenty-four, wondering which was best? To be in the company of the human? Or in the dark claustrophobic cell alone and feeling as if the walls were suffocating him. 

Until now he did not find the answer. He feared when it will come to him, knowing that he would prefer to talk to his mute torturer than bear the silence and darkness anymore.

For some strange reason, one that Elfangor could not figure out, was why his torturer liked to live in darkness, why did he not speak? And why wouldn't he allow Elfangor to see more than his blank blue eyes?

Elfangor was sure that besides him and his torturer someone else occupied the house, but no matter how much he screamed and yelled for help, it never attracted the attention of the four-footed creature that barked-growled-snarled or whined above him. He did not know what it was.

Until this day; his torturer had left the slot open, he was still in the house but else where, perhaps outside, Elfangor has yet to figure out what ten steps meant. It was pitch black in his little cell, but above there was light, and it penetrated the gloom a bit. He heard the telltale clicking of the four-legged creature, panting and then the light was blocked out.

Elfangor looked up. He could not tell what it was that was looking at him, he could only see the head; a black nose, a brown and black face, two pointed ears, a reddish brown eye, and the muzzle containing a long tongue and a dozen sharp teeth.

The creature looked up at something and then emitted a sharp bark. It looked down and barked again. It started scratching the slot with its paws furiously. It pounced on the slot then barked again.

Elfangor sent a private thought-speak plea for help, but this only made the creature stop its activity and stare down at him. It scrambled away.

Elfangor yelled at it to come back. When it didn't he started yelling hysterically. He felt the creature move even further away. He heard soft whining.

Thud! The slot was slammed shot. Elfangor had noticed the steps coming but he no longer cared that his yelling had caused his only source of light to vanish.

Deafening silence and utter darkness greeted him as he stopped his enraged screaming. He had long recognized that he no longer possessed the will power needed to keep himself sane.

The hardest thing to fight was the boredom. The lack of stimuli. The silence. Facing his tight confinement and hating it.

He had vague memories of what happened on the night his fighter crashed to Earth. He saw five human faces –kids really. He saw another of his kind –his sworn enemy. After the darkness; emptiness of nothing, and after the darkness and emptiness; despair.

Despair. It seemed a long time ago that he had lived without it. He could barley recall at time where he had been relaxed and happy. Content that he was on his family's land.

Talking to family. His parents. Little brother.

All thinking he was dead; that's what brought in disappear; the knowledge that no one knew that he was alive and imprisoned. The knowledge that people thought that he had gone peacefully to his death killed all hope pf rescue.

Elfangor was ready to welcome death with open arms.

If only he had that option.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	12. Abby's dream

_Chapter Twenty-six_

Abby woke up in an agitated state. She could vaguely remember the dream. She could not remember the details –not exactly. But it had included her running away from an invisible enemy.

Her heart was still hammering away. She felt unsettled, why was her heart clinging to the back of her throat? She remembered having awful nightmares but she never woke up in this sort of state. What was going on?

She tried moving her limbs but for some strange reason they would not move. She tried moving her head or opening her mouth to talk but it felt like someone had dislocated her nerve endings, the messages her brain was sending to her arms and legs was not clear enough to bring forth a response. Abby felt helpless.

All she saw was darkness. And when she opened her eyes she saw dark bare branches; the sky overhead was dark and gloomy.

Abby's hearing went from hearing the distant rumbling of a storm, rustling of dead leaves and the faint eerie sounds of winds picking up speed to hearing….nothing.

Abby's eyes opened wide but that did not aid her hearing, her vision was muddy –suiting the muddy colors of the bare forest- and her movements were clumsy.

It was like trying to move with a bad fever. Like you were trying to pull yourself out of quick sand. Walking through a murky swamp.

Only Abby wasn't moving. It seemed that the only thing that moved was her vision. She'd feel that she was getting up as her vision showed a higher perspective of the forest –this would happen for a few seconds then her vision sinks slowly towards her lying body.

_Am I dead?_ Abby wondered. Was this what it is like to be dead?

No. The dream. Who was chasing her?

Abby attempted to climb to her feet. Another unsuccessful attempt, as she felt herself being drawn back to her body, the skies were illuminated by a lightning flash and the thunder that followed seemed to have the capacity of stopping her still-beating heart.

The sounds of the storm followed quickly, and the muddy colors of her surroundings lifted as if some invisible camera filter was discarded.

With the arrival of her senses, Abby felt herself able to climb to her feet. As she did, another lightning flash illuminated the landscape. The roar of tumbling thunder followed and then the wind almost blew her off her feet. 

Abby gasped. She tried to reconfigure her bearings, where was she? What was she doing in this forest? Why was she alone?

Abby heard the cracking and groaning of tree bark as the wind unmercifully turned it's force upon it. Another clang of branches was heard when –at the same moment- Abby felt something rough and cold touch her bare shoulder.

Abby spun and with another dizzying flash; what she saw, terrible; Dominic. Mickey.

Dead.

They were hanged!

Their dead eyes stared glassily at her.

Abby screamed as terror gripped her. And that's when it hit her. Where she was. She was beside the river. The bare trees! They looked so familiar, and she knew why. She knew that this is where she shot her victim; Richard Ben. Victor's orders. No, it was Mark's. It was his fault she had to kill the man. To get Sixkiller back.

They didn't need her!

Abby was gasping for breath. She took slow steps backward. Her eyes glued to the spot where Mickey and Dominic were hanged. Strange that she could recognize them. But Abby had no time to marvel about it. The most gruesome part of the dead corpses was the face. It was raw. Bloody.

Like it was skinned.

Each face was contorted in an agonized scream. The eyes were dull with dead fear.

It was a violent death. A violent scene.

The sky growled hungrily. Lightning flashed and another thunder-boom added anxiety to Abby's already nervous state.

_Run._

Her dream!

It came to her in a flash. The forgotten dream! She was running! Just as she was running now, someone was chasing her.

No.

But no matter how hard she tried to stop her running feet –she couldn't. The feeling of running away from an invisible enemy turned to running away from a too real an enemy.

Abby's heart hammered.

Her breath was ragged.

She felt as if she was being hunted by a predator. By a super natural predator.

Only there was no where she could run to. Nowhere she could hide in.

Trapped! Abby spun away from the lip of a raven that appeared very suddenly in front of her. She spun and the hunter, the thing that was chasing her-

"Arrghhhh!" Abby jolted out of her sleep.

She was alone

"It was a dream." She whispered. "Just a dream."

Deep within her conscious mind, Abby knew that she wasn't entirely sure.

And the storm that rumbled overhead confirmed the feeling with a sinking heart.

But Abby was alone, and if her suspicions were true, where would she run to? And who would help her?

_Who_ and _what_ could help me, Abby thought, if Sixkiller was after me?

_No one but yourself _Abby thought to herself. Abby stared at the empty scoop longing for Tom or at least the Andalite resident, someone who could help her out of this nightmare.

_No one but yourself._

Abby sighed to herself, and despite the shiver that ran up her spine she thought that the only person who could get her out of this trouble was the same person who got her into it.

Of course, that person was Abby herself.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Huh, you like it? A dream in a dream, oh well, too bad Dominic and Mickey had to die. They're not dead yet, but they will be. Sad.

Oh well, don't forget to review!


	13. Tom's screw-up

What first appears to be a gentle conflict of opinions winds up being a full out quarrel, I like this chapter, you don't notice that Tom and Ax are _really _arguing until things are said in black and white.

I'm saying this as a hint to all those who are reading, notice how the two get on each other's nerves. Tobias is sort of bouncing between the two. He doesn't catch onto what's happening. (by the way, the first line is said by Tom)

_Chapter Twenty-seven_

Is that so?

Ax hesitated, All I meant is that decisions made on instinct are far more accurate than those made on dreams.

Assuming there's a difference between the two. Tom cut in, What if your gut instinct is influenced by what your brain imagines overnight?

Tom has a point, Ax-man. You can't deny that. Tobias said. He was in his natural form soaring high above the two.

Ax sighed, I feel that we are wasting our time. If we truly wanted to find the culprit I believe that going to Victor would prove more worthwhile.

What? Surveillance hours kills you? Tom laughed. He flapped his wings to gain a higher altitude. Tom was in the first morph he acquired; bird of prey. Coincidentally; the same morph his brother chose. 

It's not that. Ax bristled. It's-

It's all right Ax-man. It gets to us all. Tobias interrupted dryly. Besides, it's not like I'm going to hold a grudge against you for it.

What, you two think _this _is wasting time? Tom asked mocking disbelief.

It doesn't matter what I think. Tobias said firmly, or even Ax. All it is we're saying is that maybe-

Maybe Jake sent us to beat around the bush? Tom completed, but then he sighed too. I get it. So maybe this isn't the most brilliant idea Jake is capable of coming up with. But excuse me, we exhausted the 'let's talk to Victor' idea, he isn't talking. Wouldn't.

The idea of spending three hours watching him do nothing is just as exhausted, we've been doing that for what, three days? Tobias said neutrally, I don't have anything against Jake at this point, I mean, hey, it isn't like we've come up with any bright ideas.

That is true Tobias.

Do you always point out the obvious? Tom asked.

It's a habit. Tobias answered for Ax.

Look. Ax said, ignoring the two, I believe Victor is on the move.

Tobias started gaining more speed, Looks like our friend here is in a big hurry. Huh?

Oh, good. Tom murmured, how convenient, he decided to take the neighbor's Ford for a little spin.

Convenient for him maybe, but not us, Tobias remarked, We've got to move faster. Ax, Tom, I suggest you gain some altitude, this way you'll gain more distance.

Whatever you say Tobias. Tom said gleefully, You're the expert. I'm not arguing.

Whoa! Tobias said. He's flooring the gas isn't he?

I do not think we are able to gain sufficient speed to keep up with him. Ax observed keenly.

Thanks again, Ax. For pointing out the obvious.

It's a habit. Tobias reminded, You'll get use to it.

Our dilemma is over. the Andalite announced. Victor has stopped and disembarked from his stolen vehicle.

Tom said nothing but permitted a long sigh.

Tobias murmured something to himself as Victor ditched the car and tore into an empty building; he glanced both ways before entering. The building was in the less flattering side of town.

Okay. Tom said briskly, Here's what we do. Two of us go in and one stays up here. Tobias you stay in the sky and Ax come down with me.

If Tobias or Ax were thinking of resisting Tom's order's they didn't show it. Ax though, was feeling a bit disgruntled and Tobias well, he didn't really care; he enjoyed keeping watch from above. He was used to doing more of it than the others so he didn't complain. Since Ax was curious about why Victor had suddenly ran for it he decided not to object to Tom's orders and follow it out.

But being Ax, he decided to give Tom a little piece of his mind as they went down, just to show that he was resisting the idea of Tom's being in charge.

As Ax demorphed he said, I suggest you do not stay human for a longer period of time than is necessary. We do not need any other humans discovering that you are alive.

As soon as Tom's human lips appeared he gave Ax his reply, "I'm going in as me."

Ax glared, You are behaving foolishly. Not only don't you have a powerful combat morph yet, which I insist is necessary, but you are trying to endanger the other members in resistance.

"My brother wouldn't have sent me if he didn't trust me to do the right thing." Tom sounded annoyed.

Ax took a step forward and said in a low thought speak voice, Your brother sent _you_ with us, so that we keep an eye on you. He had not done this for your convenience or so that you could dish out orders.

Tom was taken back at first, then the reality of the words struck him and he felt stung. Tom lifted his head and said in an angry voice, "I'm going in as me, if you can't deal with it then you're welcomed to leave. As for me; I'm going in."

Having said that, Tom entered the dark building, Ax hissed at him to stop but Tom being Tom didn't cooperate.

Ax fearing that there were innocent humans or a large mass of a Yeerk task force inside; morphed human to regain some amount of cover. He sent a private thought-speak message for Tobias and then went in.

The interior of the building was bare and unfurnished. Tom was a few yards ahead. Ax scanned the floor they were in and caught Tom vanishing around a corner. Ax followed Tom's trail. Whether he had done this assuming that Tom had heard something or simply because he wanted to retrieve him was as unclear as what happened next.

The interior of the building was as dark as the out side, actually, darker still. Straining his human ears, Ax could hear that there was someone inside.

Two people.

One voice was clearly female. Sharp and alert. The other voice; haggard and tired, a male's voice, and judging from the particular qualities of the voice it no doubt belonged to none other than Victor.

Ax decided to delay reprimanding Tom and focused his attention on the voices.

The female's voice had lowered dangerously and a thud was heard which was followed by a dull groan.

Tom caught Ax's attention by staring at him, he motioned that he was going to go in.

Ax shook his head indicating that Tom should not do so.

Tom glared angrily and started to contradict Ax. But Ax grabbed him carefully –as not to make any noise- Tom opened his mouth to speak his mind but Ax's other hand went over his mouth. Ax opened up communications by speaking in semi-private thought speak.

We will not interfere with what is happening. Ax said heatedly, We need to understand what sort of situation we are dealing with.

"You don't decide that for me." Tom hissed angrily, getting angrier by the second by the Andalite's attitude. "Besides, I knew all that."

You were ready to storm in! Ax accused.

"Shut-up, shut-up." Tom snapped, "I'm trying to hear what Victor's saying to the mysterious women in there. It could be Abby."

Ax had demorphed and stood at attention, ready to react at anything that got in his way.

A brief snatch of the conversation was heard and Tom exclaimed loudly at it, "Son of a *****! That little weasel! He's ratting out on us! I don-"

Ax was about to silence Tom but it was too late. The door slammed open and Victor was flung outside.

Victor tumbled onto Ax and knocked him on the ground, Tom was left to confront the girl who appeared at the doorway.

Despite Ax's shouting and Tobias yelling, Tom didn't try to stop the girl. She gave him one dirty look that said 'get-the-hell-out-of-my-way-or-I-swear-you'll-regret-it' and then shot out of the building.

Ax shoved Victor off of him and thundered out of the building. Tom would have followed the girl if not for Ax's Stay on Victor.

It would have been stupid not to listen to him for a third time that day. Tom figured he had already screwed up bad –not that he would openly admit that.

Sixkiller was already out of the building when Tobias bore down his talons at her with a distinct raptor shriek. He missed her completely. And ended up as a feathery lump on the ground –stunned stupid- and Ax almost stepped over him if not for Sixkiller's angry glare in Tobias's direction.

It was a chase from then on. Sixkiller was a swift runner, Ax felt confident that he could out run her but sensed that her rhythm was not on bases of speed but endurance. And indeed her pace was set not as that of a sprinter but that of a long distance runner.

In any case Ax could not continue pursuing her in his natural form. He gave up and headed back to the building were he rewarded Tom with an angry glare.

Tobias was the only one who noticed the glare, Tom was too busy talking to Victor. Tobias flapped over to Ax as he trotted in.

I know Ax-man, not good, but let's let Jake handle this one.

Ax did not comment on this though when he did turn to Tom it was not to reprimand him, What does Victor have to say about this?

Tom still looking at Victor said, "Sixkiller's up to something alright. According to Victor here she's homing in on Abby. She's killed Mickey and Dominic-"

"I had nothing to do with this." Victor said bitterly, but his defense was very weak, considering that the Animorphs had stumbled upon him with –putting it in Ax's words- the culprit.

If it had been going badly for Victor it was about to get much worse from then onwards.

And by the looks of it; much worse for Abigail.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Did you like it? I did. It seems much shorter than the other chapters though it's actually longer (relatively). 

You finally get to see some intense feelings put alongside the plot. Got to give it for our boys; Tom & Ax. 'If they can't screw it no one can!' hehehe. Just imagine the chapter if Tom was all goody-good and Ax the obedient servant of his Prince. Saying this you'll have to remember that even though Ax pledged an oath to his Prince that does not mean that he has to tolerate his Prince's older brother. 

Despite Tom's foolish advances I don't hold a grudge against him or anything, its not like the way I hate Victor –that's just not going to happen to Tom- but I decided that the series would be a bit more colorful if some of the Animorph members felt a bit…uh…displaced by Tom's arrival. And if there's going to be anyone I thought -instantly- that person would 'Ax'. 

I bet you people are worried I'll screw the plot or something, sure the story is long but I haven't confused my leads –not yet. There will be a part three and by then most of the narration is taken on by Sixkiller. By then you'll know why she needs Elfangor and uh, why she did the things she did. I'm telling you one thing about part three; expect the unexpected.

I said the same thing when I started part two and look where we are now! 

Like always, review! -you guys are doing great though -so much inspiration, thanks!


	14. What Sixkiller wants

The coldness between Ax and Tom continues, Jake even though he appears in the chapter doesn't have time to talk to him about it, I guess you have to wait for it. And Abby's in this chapter, and so is Sixkiller, Tom, Ax, Tobias, Rachel. Jake. Cassie. Marco. Yup, they're all here. Oh, and so are Mickey and Dominic. They're in the chapter but they're quite…uh, lifeless.

_Chapter Twenty-eight_

She's not there! Tom shouted, trying to keep panic out of his voice, I don't see her!

We should have called the others and Prince Jake. Like I suggested. Ax said a hint of anger in his voice, but you said we didn't have time. You wanted to get there before Sixkiller got to Abby, we warned you that it would be too late.

Jake, Jake, Jake, _Jake_! Is that all that matters to you?! Tom shouted, Man, the hell with him, what could he have done if he were here?!

Tobias seemed to draw back from Tom and Ax said something better not repeated.

Tom landed and demorphed fast. Once he regained his human features he talked to the two in an even voice. "There isn't time for this now. We need to find Abby fast. The question is were did she go?"

No answer.

Wings flapped signaling that one of the two have left.

"Tobias? Ax?"

Tobias fluffed out his feathers, the questioned isn't where she went but how can we retrace her steps.

Ax had left. Tom not really caring, "And how do we do that?"

Another beat of hesitation, We morph wolf.

"I don't have a wolf morph!"

I do, Tobias said reluctantly. I'll morph wolf and you go owl. An owl could see better than a falcon at night.

Tom hesitated.

Tobias groaned, you don't have that either?

Tom shrugged, "How am I supposed to know that we needed that many morphs?"

Jake asked you to follow that up with Cassie! What were you doing all that time?

"Are you going to help me or not?" Tom snapped. In the back of his mind he knew what he was doing during that time; exactly what he wasn't supposed to do; spending too much of his time with Abby.

Oh I will. Tobias said with a sigh, but keep in mind that I'm doing it not because I want to, but because I have to.

"Whatever," Tom said, "I'm going falcon."

Tobias fluttered to the ground and started to morph wolf. In five minutes he was done, and so was Tom.

Tom labored to get above the tree line, Is it working? he asked anxiously.

Yeah, I'm getting a clear sent. She ran deeper into the forest. Must have left Ax's scoop about an hour ago.

Your wolf morph can tell you that?

Tobias sighed, as he looped silently in the forest dogging trees he talked to Tom, There was no need for all that, Tom.

I'm sorry, okay? Tom grumbled. I didn't mean it. Call it bad judgment.

It isn't about being sorry. Tobias said quietly, What good would it do to any of us if you were sorry that you caused one of us to die?

I know, Tobias. Tom heaved a sigh, I wasn't thinking much about that, but heck, that Andalite played on my nerves big time.

Maybe you should think a lot about that, more than how much Ax is getting on your nerves. What's important counts.

You don't get it, Tobias said, I've had it up to here with that alien, its bad enough spending my days with him at his 'scoop' its worse having him thinking he has a right to lead me!

Jake said that the decisions are up to Ax to make. We trust Jake, Tom. We trust him a lot.

Jake again. Tom muttered. The little brother he was used to teasing day and night, taking up the parenting role when his own parents were not there, and now this? How was it that the roles were reversed?

What?

Nothing. Tom said, How's it going down there?

I'm getting a new sent, Tobias sounded worried, and by the tracks I'd say they're fresh.

The sky overhead rumbled. To Tom's ears they were magnified considerably. Though it was night Tom could catch flashes of the damp forest through lightning.

I hope the others are coming soon. Tobias grumbled as he crossed over a river by walking over a tree that must have fallen earlier on, he ran alongside the river, We don't have any more than forty-five minutes left in this morph and-yyyyahh!

What? Tom cried out, searching futilely in the dark with his falcon vision, Is it Abby? Did you find her?

No. Tobias said sounding shaken, But I found Mickey and Dominic.

That's good, maybe they could tell us where Abby went. Tom was getting increasingly worried.

I said I found Mickey and Dominic; what's left of them anyway.

Tom drifted down to see for himself; instantly wishing that he didn't. Their bodies were hanged and their faces appeared bloody, raw.

How can you tell this is them? Tom tried to keep the uneasiness out of his voice. Another set of lightning flashes illuminated the hanging carcasses and brought back the memory of earlier on the day, when Sixkiller appeared calmly at the doorway. He didn't try to stop her then, he was glad he hadn't tried. He honestly thought that Ax wouldn't have come to his rescue.

I recognized their sent from the other day.

Can you sniff out Abby? Tom asked his voice hoarse, Did she come here?

Defiantly. Tobias said, The other sent I sniffed out passed here too.

Sixkiller?

Most defiantly. Tobias said, otherwise it wouldn't make sense.

Let's go. Tom said silently in Tobias's head.

They must have proceeded no more than five minutes in the forest when Tobias down by the ground and Tom not so far away heard it; a blood curling scream; someone screaming bloody murder.

And not too soon after-

Tobias! Tom! Ax yelled, The others arrived.

Did you hear that? 

Hear what? Marco sounded grumpy, a typical human reaction to being awakened in the middle of the night and forced to fly all the way over to the forest in the beginning of an ugly storm.

I caught it. Jake said grimly. Fan out people, Rachel, Marco and Ax, you guys haven't morphed owl. Go down and cover the ground. Tobias we need you in the sky, this is your territory.

I'm going down. Tom said.

Jake's response was automatic, no.

Tom had been preparing himself for this answer and had something in line for Jake, I'm almost out of time, I've got to demorph.

Jake didn't respond for a few beats then he said, Okay.

It must have been an eerie sight; two falcons descending in the night, they may have looked identical to the untrained eye but the falcons were not carbon copies.

Another scream catalyzed the procedure and caused the Animorphs to act quicker.

Tom was the first to rush forward, Rachel yelled at him to turn back; Tom wasn't in morph.

And for the second time that day he was confronted by the mysterious girl, the girl whose eyes spoke far stronger than her actions. Eyes that told him to back off and not interfere.

Tom hesitated. On one hand he had the animorphs' orders to carry out. An easy way to back off from an enemy that he did not understand fully and therefore feared.

On the other hand was Abby, the unfortunate Irish girl who somehow found her way into trouble; she was on her knees before Sixkiller. She turned a tear-streaked face towards him and her eyes pleaded with his. 

Another moment passed and he could hear that the others were almost finished transforming into their various morphs. Tom turned his eyes on Sixkiller, in the rain it wasn't clear what she did exactly. She must have bent over and hissed something in Abby's ear, and then she shoved her forward in the mud and slipped silently into the forest.

Tom rushed forward to Abby and helped her to her feet, her clothes were soaked wet and her face and shirt held traces of blood, dirt and mud. When Tom reached Abby she found herself leaning against him, and she placed her head onto his shoulder, and before the Animorphs could join them she whispered quickly into his ear, "Don't leave me Tom, please don't leave me."

Tom didn't have the chance to give a full reply, he managed to give her a quick; "Don't worry about it." And the urged her forward towards the group.

Rachel bounded forward, Tom was surprised to see her there, he thought that she would still be home bond to a cast –she obviously wasn't.

Where did she go? Rachel demanded.

"She left." Abby said quietly, holding on to Tom as if afraid to be blown away by the wind. "It's no use following her. Not in the rain at least."

Rachel lumbered past the two, she dipped her grizzly face towards the ground. Trying to locate a sent.

"There's no use for that." Abby repeated as the rest filed out in front of both Tom and her.

Why do you keep saying that? Cassie asked landing on a nearby branch.

Abby turned her face towards Cassie, "because she'll be back. Soon. You can count on that."

Jake called on Tobias to check on it.

If she's here she's doing one hell of a job hiding her. I can't find her Jake. Sorry.

Jake, we need to get her somewhere dry. She'll get a cold like this.

We'll take her to Erek's.

"That's too far away," Tom interrupted, "The walk alone would take the rest of the day. I say we head to where I'm at, I've go some dry clothes over there."

That would make sense. Ax spoke aloud.

The group started heading towards Ax's home and Tom's temporary residence. Abby said that she wanted to show the group something after she got some fresh clothes. Something important.

Soon enough, after having a clean pair of jeans and a shirt that didn't fit at all, Abby retrieved something from her dirty clothes. It was small and glinted in the gloomy night.

She walked right over to Ax and handed him the small device she held. "Sixkiller wanted me to give this to you."

A hologram emitter! Ax exclaimed, It's the standard Andalite model, from where did she come across it?

Abby looked like she was going to choke on tears, she knew what secrets it held but dared not to tell anyone; let them find out for themselves.

"I don't know." Abby managed, "But she wanted me to relay a message across to you all."

What's that? Tobias asked.

Marco and Ax were fidgeting with the device. Ax regarded Abby with his stalk eyes.

"Sixkiller told me what she wants of you." Abby took a deep breath, "She wants the blue box, or else."

Jake and Cassie exchanged a look.

Tobias turned his gaze on Ax first then Jake, then Marco.

Marco raised an eyebrow at Rachel who barked out a laugh and said, "Oh yeah? She wants the blue box huh?" Rachel's eyes gleamed, "Or else what?"

Abby stared at the ground, "Don't take this lightly, if Sixkiller asks for something she'll get it."

"And what does she have to bargain with?" Jake asked incredulously. "She doesn't expect me to hand it over like that. Does she?"

"No." Abby said nodding towards the device that Ax held in his hands, "She has something alright. She wants you to see it before you decide on ignoring her."

"Play it out Ax." Jake said. "Lets see what she has for us."

Ax nodded. I doubt that she could do anything to harm us.

"I think you're wrong." Abby muttered. "Very wrong."

And indeed she herself knew; she knew that what Ax was about to see would bring him down to his knees.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Oh wow, another one of my infamous cliffhangers; though not much of a challenge, if you've been up-to-date with what's happening its clear what's going to happen next. If anyone is stumped on what is contained in the holographic emitter then go back to Letter 3. The clue is uh, in the letter.

Be on the look out for the next chapter, I haven't written it yet but I have a feeling that I'm going to reveal yet another secret. 


	15. Elfangor

_Chapter Twenty-nine_

The young Andalite held the holographic emitter before him, with word from his Prince he gave the simple command, Play.

Before the group a hologram appeared. The hologram itself revealed nothing but darkness.

The group of human youths exchanged looks. There were six humans. Three girls. Three boys. Two of the humans were clearly older; one was a human female with beautifully long auburn hair and sad green eyes. The other human was a tall male with light brown hair and dark eyes.

The two other boys stood together. One had black hair and dark eyes, the other had solemn eyes, dark brown hair and a pale complexion aided with a larger build. This human stood beside a female with the darkest skin complexion. 

The remaining female stood aside, she had spectacular blond hair and fierce blue eyes. Perching beside her on a tree stump was a bird of prey with an even fiercer glare.

This odd group seemed to be standing in a scoop. The weather was bad but not bad enough to disturb the hologram. The hologram itself was starting to show things beside empty darkness.

A bright rectangle of light appeared very suddenly. The rectangle itself was nothing but a narrow slot in the ceiling of a small room.

The light did not penetrate the gloom entirely, it only offered a narrow beam of light, and in that light stood an Andalite.

This Andalite may have looked like an exact replica of its species but something was noticeably different.

The body –and all that could be seen of it was the head, shoulders, upper body right down to the front knees and part of his lower back- was slackened, the stance was anything but that of a warrior; the shoulders were slumped and the tail blade which should have been visible; erect and ready at shoulder level was nowhere to be seen. Probably hiding with the rest of his body in the gloom.

The eyes were a strange phenomenon. They appeared fearful. They were uneasy and weary. After a few seconds of silence the expression turned into something that could have easily been described as boredom mixed with dulled terror. This Andalite was not like it's race because –unlike it's kind- it was humiliated. And Andalites –most of them- did not admit to humility. 

This Andalite spoke; the voice was broken down into a scattered bundle of thoughts and pictures. The meanings of his words were unclear. He seemed unable to bring out a coherent sentence.

The beam of light dimmed suddenly. The slot, which provided light, showed that something was peering down. A human. Only the two eyes were visible. They were blue; ugly and cold. A disturbing emotion flickered across the glassy gaze as the Andalite yelled at his torturer to speak out.

As for the group who were watching the hologram; the wind was knocked out of their lungs. Their faces paled and the young Andalite reeled down in shock and horror.

In the hologram the slot was enlarged into a larger square –a trapdoor opening- the human jumped down and flashed a strong beam that illuminated the Andalite and blinded all four of his eyes.

The Andalite jerked back from the harshness of the light, he attempted to shield his face from the light with his weak Andalite arms.

The Andalite's body showed traces of various kinds of injuries; cuts, bruises, burns all were distributed at random throughout his body. 

The position of the hologram recorder did not reveal the face of the torturer. His identity was safe and a closely guarded secret.

The dark skinned human female turned away from the gruesomeness shown in the hologram as the torturer started punishing his victim. After a while half of the others turned away as well. 

The young Andalite stared, unable to look away; as his older brother was humiliated again, and again, and again. He could now see how helpless he was; his tail-blade was sheathed and secured behind him and his Andalite arms were no match for the strong human male's that delivered repeated blows to his face.

A warrior that could not use his tail could not fight.

And if he could not fight then he was deeply humiliated.

Ax turned away as a cry of pain echoed in his head. He closed his four eyes and begged his friends to stop the hologram re-play.

The torturer delivered a high kick that threw his prisoner against the wall and left him stunned and stupid. The human jumped out of the cell by means of a rope that was suspended above him and the trapdoor was lowered back.

Elfangor was left, half illuminated in the beam of light, his body shaking and his mind spinning faster than he could have imagined possible.

And for a moment, as if told where the recorder had been placed Elfangor stared right into the eye of the recorder, and as if he knew that his eyes had locked briefly with his brother's he averted them and his stalk eyes dropped miserably.

The slot that allowed light into the cell was slammed shut, throwing it's resident in complete darkness. The hologram had begun in darkness; it ended in darkness as well.

A shrill laugh was heard above Elfangor's head. He had been watching the hologram, watching his brother's reactions carefully. Too afraid to watch and too afraid to look away.

Could he have possible let down his brother any more than this? Elfangor did not know, he also did not know his own son's reactions because he had not found him. He wondered –very briefly- what had become of him.

Thoughts like those brought misery down to Elfangor, and then as if he had found a way out of this nightmare, a thought came to him that bought him a fraction of peace and another wave of intense pity.

Elfangor thought that if he could have wished for something; he would have wished that he were back in his human morph.

He longed to cry as a human, with human tears instead of an Andalite that cried at heart.

There was some sort of admittance to pain and sadness in crying as a human, not that it brought anything forward or that it meant that his problems were solved, no, it just helped him feel relieved.

Relived and released from the burden of loneliness.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Yeah, yeah I know, you don't get to see Ax's reaction clearly, but I had a choice to make, whose reaction would be more worthwhile? I guess I decided on Elfangor, besides I liked the idea that Sixkiller recorded their meetings, plus, I needed Elfangor _and_ Ax to find out that both of them were alive. But most importantly was that Elfangor was able to see his brother's reaction.

If anyone is going to ask how she recorded the meetings –because I know someone would ask; she didn't run off in the last chapter; Tobias couldn't spot her hiding and the hologram recorder was set after she chased Abby out of Ax's scoop (that's were she was in the first place). The hologram recorder itself is inside a hologram that stops it from being uncovered.

Sixkiller has access to technology that is far more advanced than Andalites. Don't ask me how, you'll find out from who Sixkiller got it in part three or maybe this part. So, please don't bug me about things like; why doesn't Elfangor cry out for help (Gafilian –is that how you spell his name? I don't really care but onto the point- said that he could always 'hear' Mertil's voice unless they were in different planets. Ax was able to call Cassie and Tobias -in book 4?- even though there was a huge section of ocean and land between them.)

As for why doesn't he morph; he can't. Something to do with advanced technology and wave patterns (err, are you buying this?)

Further comments are left open to you.


	16. Blue box

_Chapter Thirty_

I stared in disbelief and turned to Jake, "We aren't going to believe that, are we?"

Jake seemed to be interested in something faraway. Marco answered for me, probably speaking Jake's mind, "if it wasn't authentic then I don't think that Ax would have ran off like that."

Tobias was perching silently, his only reaction to seeing the hologram re-play was to seek a higher perch. I glanced up at him, "She could be lying. Could be another Andalite."

"It was Elfangor." Cassie pointed out, "Although it didn't feel like him."

Tom and Abby didn't have anything to say, they seemed to have a shared feeling that this issue had nothing to do with them.

How long do you think he was there?

"What?" Marco asked.

How long do you think he was there. Tobias repeated.

Marco blinked, he looked at the others, "It could be since we…wait! Why are we believing all this? It doesn't make sense. Elfangor is dead. We saw it happen. We were there. Remember? Visser Three was there too. And last time I checked he also thought that Elfangor is dead."

I shrugged. "The holograms were authentic. Or at least we think that they are."

"You're telling me what we saw happen to Elfangor was us getting carried away?" Marco laughed cynically. "Isn't this insane?"

A branch of a tree swayed and the leaves rustled. I jerked in alarm, "Tobias?"

Tobias's body was easily lost in the dark sky. It was still raining but I haven't spotted any lightning for some time.

"Let him be." Jake said quietly when I started morphing. "Give him some space, he'll talk it over with Ax."

I lowered my eyes to the ground. I didn't say anything but stared at the small holographic emitter that brought forward this crisis.

"Abby." Jake said finally, "What would Sixkiller do if we didn't give her the blue box?"

Abby's head jerked in surprise for being addressed by Jake, she glanced at Tom then said, "I don't know. She didn't tell me."

Jake shook his head; "Your group has more experience with dealing with her. What do you think she would do?"

Abby bit her lower lip and her eyes glazed slightly, "maybe she'd kill him."

I cast a glance at Cassie and she confirmed to me that she was lying.

Jake looked troubled, "So is that what we're barging with? Elfangor's life?"

"Appears so fearless leader." Marco said without emotion, "It's the box or Elfangor."

"Then it wouldn't be a choice." Jake sighed. "We'd have to give her the box. We'll need the help of someone with battle experience as well. We could actually win this war if Elfangor was on our side."

"We give her the blue box and hope she doesn't do …whatever with it?" I questioned skeptically.

"Not so fast. Jake." Marco said nodding at me, "How do we know that we can trust her?"

Abby answered this for Marco, "Sixkiller does keep her word. I know this from experience."

"We wouldn't trust her not to play games on us poor dumb Animorphs." Marco replied. "We weren't born yesterday you know."

"Something your grandmother used to say, Marco?" I teased, I was trying to get the mood back to normal, or close to it. I still didn't believe for a second that Elfangor was alive. If he was how was I supposed to explain to myself what happened on the night that we crossed the deserted construction site?

Marco rolled his eyes, unable to come back with a crushing wise crack. Instead he said, "Look, we're arguing about whether or not the cube will fall into Yeerk hands, it doesn't have to be in Yeerk hands for it to be bad news for us, what if this Sixkiller gets to be more trouble than the Yeerks, what then? Because in case you people haven't noticed, we only fooled David because he had that male ego thing. From what Abby says, Sixkiller doesn't have an ego."

It was one grim meeting, I'll tell you that much.

"There's something you have to know," Abby said, "About Sixkiller she doesn't do things for-"

She's here! Tobias yelled suddenly, I'm flying overhead guys, she's only a few yards away!

"What the…" I felt my eyes widen.

Cassie spun around at the sound of a twig snapping.

She's coming towards you! Tobias said, I see her.

I looked at Jake, my face said it all because he nodded and said, "Do it."

I reached out deep inside of me and summoned the grizzly DNA that roamed my bloodstream. The changes began much slower than the ones I observed on Cassie. She was already half wolf and I only managed to have myself covered in grizzly fur and growing claws.

Jake morphed a tiger and Tom stared stupidly. I shook my head at him. Man, and he thought he was going to survive this war by reacting like this?

Tom wrapped an arm round Abby and faced the girl that came crashing into the scoop. Tobias dove down and tried to rake her face. I thought he was going to get a direct hit but she threw herself to the ground –either that or she tripped- and Tobias raked hair.

She skidded to a halt not a few feet away. Her entire body froze –just froze and became a motionless figure- as she regarded us with her eyes. She unfroze and took a step forward with her eyes locking into Jake's.

I lumbered towards her. And rewarded her with a backhand blow that knocked her to the ground.

Sixkiller's head snapped up and she felt her mouth; her hand came away bloody. She spat at me.

Stupid. A mixture of spit and blood doesn't scare a grizzly, all it does is annoy the human that share's its brain.

I stood over her and got ready to deliver another blow. The anger that rose inside of me was overwhelming, I found myself remembering the fall that sent me tumbling to the concrete.

Rachel! No. Wait! Jake ordered, I want to talk to her.

I would have backed off; I really would, without hesitation even. But Sixkiller gave me this frosty stare and spoke very patronizingly as I got off her; her voice was low enough so that only I heard her, "Good girl, just do what Jake says and everything will be fine; all this excitement must have disoriented you." Her eyes opened wide and she cocked her head at me, "you don't have to be afraid." 

I don't know why, whether it was because I thought that I'd lower myself to her standard by answering or reaction to her words or because I simply didn't expect her to say that; in any case I didn't say anything. But I _did_ knock her to the ground again. Jake stared at me.

Sixkiller slowly got off the ground, she was looking at me all the time, when she stood up she turned to Jake. "I do not negotiate without the presence of the full group." She looked around, "where's the brother, then?"

I can speak for him. Tobias said coldly, We wouldn't want to bother him.

"But I must insist." Sixkiller's eyes danced with dark joy and I noticed Abby shivering, "I have much that I want to tell him."

It wouldn't be necessary. Jake said coldly.

"I can wait," Sixkiller said easily, "I haven't anything better to do."

I'll go too. I said when Tobias pushed himself off the tree. I followed the clear trail that Ax left and found him standing not so far away underneath a tree. All four of his eyes were closed and his palm rested on tree bark.

Ax? Tobias asked.

Two of his stalk eyes turned towards him. His main eyes stayed closed though.

We have to go back to your scoop. Tobias said, We caught Sixkiller and she claims that she wants to negotiate. She wouldn't do it unless everyone was present.

No answer.

Come on, we need you. I said. You aren't going to let her push you around are you?

Ax took himself away from the tree and followed me back to the scoop. On the way back I spoke to Tobias quietly, are you okay?

There was no answer, as I trotted bear style with my entire body rolling, I noticed that another storm was brewing. A badger disappeared down his hole and a squirrel scurried off.

I'll be fine. Tobias said finally, It's Ax I'm worried about., he's not taking it lightly.

He'll deal. I said hopefully, Ax was running silently beside me, his eyes were strained and there was something different about him, something that wasn't there before.

Tom and Abby were still off at a side when I came back to the scoop. A demorphed Marco was lounging on a sofa he dragged out here some while ago and Jake and Cassie were standing close to each other –they too have demorphed. Tobias landed on a perch and I stood beneath the tree. Ax stood close by. Seeing that every one was demorphed I demorphed too. I would have asked Jake or Cassie why hey had demorphed in front of Sixkiller but I was too busy trying to locate her.

At first I couldn't find Sixkiller and thought that she took off. I found her leaning motionlessly against a tree. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was dozing off.

She straightened up after seeing Ax arrive but she didn't address him, she turned to Jake. "So we all seem to be here."

"You just tell us what's the deal here."

"I want the blue box." She said, her voice was husky and her accent was foreign. I couldn't pinpoint a nationality, but she was defiantly not from around here.

Jake nodded, "You'll get the blue box, but for that you release Ax's brother."

Sixkiller raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me, but I said nothing about releasing anyone. Who gave you that foolish idea?" her eyes wondered over to Abby.

Jake and probably most of us, was surprised. Marco pushed himself off the sofa. "We give you the blue box in return for…?"

Sixkiller looked at Marco, "You cannot figure it out?"

Marco probably had but it was Tobias who spelled it out, we're not trusting you. We'll never know if you'll stop harming Elfangor.

Sixkiller laughed, a shrill voice in the dark forest, I noticed Ax shifting his weight. "Oh is that so? I'm afraid you don't have a choice."

"If you do get the blue box what are you planning to do with it?" Cassie asked. The thought surprised me, I hadn't thought about it.

Jake watched Sixkiller's reaction carefully.

"It is not your business." The answer was cold and the tone allowed no room for arguments.

"Of course its our business." I snapped at her, "right up at this moment it appears that we're going to give you the blue box as a gift. We need proof showing us that Elfangor is alive." I gave her a cold smile, "why don't you show us Elfangor? That way we'll really believe you."

Sixkiller slowly turned her head towards me; she favored me with a long icy stare. She took six swaggering steps towards me and stuck her face very close to mine; again she spoke so that only I could hear her. "You seem to understand what's going on far better than the others. Why don't you go ahead and give out the rest of the orders. Tell me this, why do you think I'm going to show you Elfangor?"

I shrugged. Trying to look impassive to her intimidation. All the others with the exception of Ax were staring.

"Until then." She hissed through gritted teeth, "I suggest you shut up before you hurt yourself-" her eyes opened up in what appeared to be mocked astonishment, and for the sixth time since I met her, I noticed how white her eye balls were and the profound darkness of her pupils. The sharp contrast was unusual. Strange, "it wouldn't be the first time, now would it?"

That did it.

I used both hands to push Sixkiller away, unfortunately she was far faster than me; she blocked my hands and sent me careening into a tree.

"Why you little…" I growled angrily, I was already dreaming up beautiful ways to release my keyed up anger when Jake told me to back off.

I would have resisted, I would have opened my mouth and told Jake that I wasn't finished here. But you know what? All this time I've spent fighting alongside my cousin told me that he wouldn't let me do it.

I backed off sneering at Sixkiller, "You're safe now. Next time pray that Jake isn't here between us."

She ignored me. And the gesture kicked me right in the stomach. I swallowed back the tidal of anger and forced myself to stay calm. I looked up at Tobias.

There will be a next time. He told me privately.

I nodded.

Jake talked calmly, but the tension was there, he was letting Sixkiller act at will. "Next time you want something talk to me, you aren't here to talk to my comrades."

Sixkiller said, "That doesn't bother me." She flashed a fake smile to Jake –which he turned down- and said briskly, "Forgive the unfortunate interruption and lets go back to our little issue here, you were saying…?"

"I will give you the blue box but in return I ask for Elfangor's freedom."

"Denied."

Jake stared at her, "This is no negotiation."

Marco was watching the two carefully and Cassie was looking at Ax.

"It is perhaps the worst kind of negotiation but it is one just the same. You give me the blue box," Sixkiller sighed, "and I give you my word."

"I don't trust your word."

"Then this is over." Sixkiller said, she turned and started to walk out of the scoop, Jake didn't stop her; she stopped herself. I saw Marco smirk and nod at Jake, he probably thought that she needed the blue box badly. But that wasn't it. "I'm sure that the Visser will appreciate the little piece of intelligence information I have lined up for him."

Jake's eyes narrowed, "You knew we were human before we demorphed. You said so yourself; otherwise I wouldn't have demorphed. Tell me, who told you about us?"

"That has nothing to do with what we're talking about here." Sixkiller replied. She gave Jake a sly look. "You yourself have to find out who in your group has been talking about you behind your back." She paused slightly, "Sniff the rat out, it isn't so hard."

Jake said nothing.

"Perhaps I have a way to settle this." Sixkiller said, "You are worried that I might hand over the blue box into Yeerk hands; do not worry about that. I would not do it. The Yeerks are my enemies and the day you find me giving them things for free is the day hell freezes over."

If the Yeerks are your enemies then why are you holding an Andalite warrior prisoner? Ax asked coldly, it was the first time he spoke that day, Your behavior is far from normal and may be considered by some as treasonous.

Sixkiller's eyes narrowed, a surprise to me since I thought she'd laugh Ax off and give him a cocky-eyed stare. "Indeed I may be an enemy of the Yeerks and I do resist their forces but that does _not_ make me an ally to the Andalites. And nor does it mean that I have to tolerate Yeerk enemies."

The warrior you have imprisoned is a great foe to the Yeerks. He is capable of hindering their efforts greatly and is capable of giving us an even winning chance against the Yeerks. What do you wish to accomplish by doing this?

Sixkiller paused for a few seconds before answering Ax, "It appears that you know nothing of me and you honestly do not know why I am fighting. Let me tell you this; the Yeerk's invasion on earth is my least of my worries, you may make yourselves busy by trying to stop them and yes, you will fail. As for me, I have higher goals to achieve. What I need and want from your brother has nothing to do with you or your group."

Then why are you here? Ax's voice was colder than ever. If I didn't know any better I'd have thought he would have ended her life right then and there. He was practically seething from hoof to tail.

Sixkiller answered him in an equally cold voice, "the blue box, I want it."

You have no right to it.

"You aren't here to tell me what rights I have," Sixkiller said calmly, her tone changed as she continued, "now, if any of you know what's coming next then I suggest you run off and bring me what I want."

Jake let loose a frustrated sound, "Are you even listening to us? We're telling you that you have no deal unless you could prove to me that Elfangor _is_ alive."

In private thought speak I heard Ax say, Prince Jake, I can confirm to you that the hologram are real.

Jake walked over to Ax and took him to a cornered. Away from Sixkiller and us.

I had no idea what they were talking about. But when they came back they must have reached a decision, because the next thing Jake said was, "Okay, two days from now we'll give you the blue box."

I almost choked on my spit, "_What?!_"

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Great, this is the end of part two. The next chapter will be posted in part three; _Sixkiller; something something_, I still haven't worked out the title but very soon I'll figure one out. I don't know if I should write an introduction, summing up what happens (tell me if I should) but what I do know is that you'll find out very soon why Sixkiller needs Elfangor, why she wanted the blue box, who the little one is and the rest is a surprise.

Oh right, I almost forgot; there is a very high chance that Rachel and Sixkiller will actually fight on a one-on-one combat. Whether they will be human or morphed is another thing.


End file.
